Life's struggle

Helsinki, 5 degrees.

It’s no secret that the doctors informed us last spring that one of my closest persons suffers from cancer level one out of four. Basically that means she won’t undergo any kind of treatment for her condition but she will have follow-ups every six months. This person is the kind of person that doesn’t often want to talk about her health so that’s why after she heard that the doctors wouldn’t give her any medicine or make her take any treatment, she didn’t want to discuss it any further. Of course every six months when she has her follow-ups, there is always a big part of me that’s scared of the results. It’s like life stands still for a day every six months. Fortunately until now life has continued spinning after the follow-ups.

Cancer or I guess any kind of illness is funny in the sense that people that haven’t been touched by it don’t notice it being present all the time, but once one knows somebody that’s gotten ill, suddenly the illness is constantly present, lurking behind every corner and one sees it everywhere. I mean, I notice cancer headings much easier now, and if I see an article in a newspaper talking about it, I’ll read it because I feel I want to know everything I can about the disease.

Just the other day I saw a program on the TV telling about a well-known Finnish singer who got throat cancer a couple of years ago. It just so happens that that same person has two children that used to go to the same kindergarten as me, and therefore me and the person I know with cancer both know who he is.

Ironically, not knowing about each other’s actions, both I and she watched the program. It was touching, and the person I know with cancer even recorded it. The singer in question has been able to beat the illness for now, and that was what he was talking about: the life changing experience of being seriously ill, then beating the disease and life after being sick. After having been told never to sing anymore he has made the impossible and started singing once again.

The new songs were really touching as they told about his personal struggle with cancer, and I noticed tears running down on both the cheeks of myself and those of the person I know with cancer while listening to the song they gave a sample of during the show when we watched it again together.

What's your opinion?

@elisabeth.rundlof