I have hated cancer for many years. It has taken the lives
of people that I loved, and caused pain and suffering for many others. It is
one of those nasty facts of life that springs up suddenly and damages or
destroys lives, with little we can do. It inspires a feeling of helplessness,
as well as anger.
Something I had not realized until very recently, though,
was that I believed – on a subconscious level – that cancer was something that
happened to other people. People close to me, maybe, but not to me.
Therefore, when I went to get my first colonoscopy a couple
of months ago, I wasn’t truly concerned, even though I was younger than usual
because we have a family history of colon cancer. I was, in fact, planning to
send an “all clear” message to two of my cousins – who are about my age and up
for the same thing – that evening. It didn’t turn out that way.
I was told that I had a tumour in my colon, which soon
proved to be malignant. I have now been through major surgery, and am about to
start six months of chemotherapy.
Going through all I have been through in the past couple of
months – tests, surgery, hospitalization and generally feeling awful – has helped
bring home the reality that I really do have cancer, and that it can happen to me. But even after all
this, I sometimes struggle with accepting it.
Why should you care? Because if someone who already knows
they have cancer has a hard time believing it, then I can only guess that many
people have the same “it can’t happen to me” feeling that I did. Fortunately, I
got tested anyway. My brother doesn’t want to. Neither do many other people. Do
it anyway. It CAN happen to you, and a test might save your life.
