Kickin' Cancer One Day at a Time

Kickin' Cancer One Day at Time

by Shasta Long on Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 10:08am

The dreaded C word.  The word you never want to hear.  Looking through my list of facebook friends, over half have experienced or known someone with cancer at some point in time.  I used to not know of anyone.  Now I don't have enough fingers and toes to count all of those I know who have been affected by this terrible illness.  Unfortunately, one of those people is my brother, Shane.  We never, in a million years, thought we would have to hear that dreaded word.  I don’t know if I thought we were magically protected from this monster, but I was obviously was dreaming.  I remember the day, the time, the tears and heartache like the diagnosis was yesterday.  Something I would never want any family to have to go through.  I remember thinking why not that murderer, why not that rapist, why not that person who drives home drunk, not my family, not my brother.  I remember struggling to find the words to tell my husband what was going on.  I remember calling our pastor and pulling over on the side of the road so she could pray with us.  I remember driving and driving just trying to make it go away.  And did I mention, we were on vacation at the beach when we found out.  We haven’t been back since.  I know how this struck me, like a knife in the heart; I cannot imagine how it felt for Shane and Holly.  They are two of the strongest people I have ever met.  I hope they know how much I love them and how inspiring they have been to me.  They have been through so much, but never stop to feel sorry for themselves.  I believe that God never gives us anything we cannot handle.  I believe this will make us stronger.  I believe we will have the power to stop this disease in its tracks.  However, for now, we are here in the boat with many others.  We can dwell on this and let it destroy us OR we can keep on going.  We choose the second one.   Our family has been so blessed by the outpouring of encouragement and support from the community, our friends, and our family.  It is our turn to give back.  PAY IT FORWARD! I encourage all of you to stop by the Cancer CAN’T Conquer Spaghetti Dinner and Chinese Auction.  It is 10-6 this Saturday at the Grassflat Fire Hall…Adults $6 Children 5-11 $3 Children under 5 eat free.  All proceeds go directly to the Bob Perks Cancer Fund.  This fund financially supports cancer patients and their families in the Clearfield, Centre, Blair and Huntington counties.  To put it in perspective for you a little more, this foundation will give out over $160,000 to patients this year.  Last year, they gave out over $20,000 to Clearfield County alone.  If you cannot attend this dinner or do not live in the area, I encourage you to go to this website and make a donation… www.bobperkscancerassistancefund.org  You never know when cancer will strike…but together we can fight back and we WILL win!!  Please come or donate.  You will feel great about what you did!

Shasta