She loves all shades of blue, quiet times with an English novel, and family holidays.
I speak of my second mother who pushed up her sleeves last spring to help me reupholster my dining room chairs with crisp, white linen. Before that, she and I antiqued the dining room mantle, all of this just in time for the family to gather around the table for Easter. It was a year of awakening for us all which began with the coming of spring. Winter’s chill was passing; the landscape was dotted with early blooms — and she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
Last Easter was a time of prayer, hope and unspoken fears as our mother braced for many months of intense chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Days grew long, nights even longer as she fought like a soldier affirming that the cancer was not welcome in her body. The treatment was so rough we wondered if it might be as bad as the disease, but this lady is no sissy, never was, never will be. The summer turned into fall as this woman, with dignity, grace and Southern grit, willed this uninvited disease away. Well, there were also many prayers and some fine doctors and nurses.
Christmas was a much better time as stunned doctors became optimistic that the cancer might be gone. Then the New Year brought the best news ever, a cancer-free mother. You had better believe we will be rejoicing this Easter Sunday. Our beloved one has been renewed with good health. We offer our most sincere sympathy to those many families whose stories don’t end as happily.
For all who are blessed to love and be loved, I urge you to get screened for colorectal cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths, and the most astounding fact is that it is often curable when detected early as with our mother. In honor of March being colorectal cancer awareness month, a series of public service announcements were recorded with Morgan Freeman, Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep reminding us to be proactive in controlling one of the few things in life we truly can control–health screening.
A few days ago I sat with our survivor on her front porch. Blue is her favorite color, and how appropriate that it is also the color of colorectal cancer awareness. We counted our blessings one by one, giggled some, and then got busy planning our next project which we will begin right after our Easter together — the truest vision of human resurrection this family has ever seen.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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