Cancer is an interesting thing. When it attacks, it has no specific targets in mind. It has no means of reason or conscience. It simply does what it wants to.
Everyday more and more people are dying from cancer. Most people who are diagnosed with cancer lead healthy, normal lives, not exposed to any of the normal risk factors. Most people have done nothing to deserve the fate of such an unforgiveable illness. And yet, these people are suffering and dying from cancer anyway.
Most people that die from cancer are usually on good terms with their death. They realize that nothing more can be done, and they are sick and tired of the pain and suffering that has been brought upon them. The ones that have to live with the effects of cancer even longer, though, are the families who have been left without their loved ones. My friend’s mom and boyfriend both died of cancer. The likeliness of this is so close to nothing, yet it happened anyway.
I can still remember the day I went over to her house because she refused to go see her mom in the hospital. At first I couldn’t figure out what could possibly compel a daughter to refuse visiting her dying mother. It was her last chance to be with her, to encourage her to fight, to say that she loved her. I remember pulling her arm, trying to get her out of the bed, when suddenly she just started sobbing and yelling. I began to realize what a difficult thing it had to be to see your mother in such pain and agony when you can do absolutely nothing about it—you could sit there, hold her hand, maybe tell her that your life is fine, but you can’t possibly save her. It was her grief that caused me the most pain. Watching her cry and seeing that I could do absolutely nothing about it made me realize that I wanted to make a difference for those people who are in pain over losing a loved one to cancer, or any disease for that matter.
So why do I do what I do? I do it because at the end of the day, I want to be able to help save a patient with cancer, or another life threatening disease. At the end of the day, I want to go up to loved ones and tell them that their wife, husband, mother, father, daughter, son, brother, sister, or best friend is going to live. And if I can’t make that happen, at least I can say that I did everything in my power to help save their life.
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