Both of my parents died of cancer [View All]

Both of my parents who were exceptional human beings to me were lost to me to cancer. My mother, a brave, wonderful, loving woman, died of cancer after having had a mastectomy and then seeing the cancer travel to her adrenal glands and then to her bones, suffering a long, painful, and debilitating agony brought on by that lying, cheating, disgusting, evil disease. Yet, she remained ever a woman with a full heart and a loving embrace on all of life who taught me so much. It is still hard sometimes for me to talk about her death even though it has now been thirty one years since I lost her physically. I say I lost her physically because I do believe her soul remains in the form of my son, whose eyes are hers and whose loving manner reminds me of her presence everyday of my life.

My father, a brilliant, well read man with a temper but also with a heart of gold who was my dance partner and my teacher, was lost to me one and a half years after my marriage over twenty two years ago. He too suffered a long debilitating bout with lung cancer, and I saw both him and my mother waste away before my eyes both in their fifties because they both starting smoking when it was considered the thing to do, and couldn't stop once it was known how deadly it was. And I can tell you this from experience that NO ONE should have to watch their loved ones die in this manner.

NO ONE.

You might at this point be wondering why I am writing this. Well, after reading a couple of threads about Tammy Faye Baker's death, it reminded me of the pain and suffering my own parents went through, and I truly do cry tears for anyone in this world today who loved Tammy Faye Baker because I know what it is like to see someone you love with all of your heart and soul be eaten alive by a disease you have absolutely no control over.

And I do not feel any ill will for anyone who has cancer regardless of who they are, as it is an insidious disease that destroys all it touches. IT is the enemy, and those it touches don't deserve it. My parents certainly didn't deserve it, and neither did Tammy Faye Baker.

That is all I can say on this.