Special Entry - Our Dad's Cancer Story.

This is our Dad's "Why I Relay" story that I wrote for him. He will be telling this story at this years Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life in our area this year.

I had two moles on the side of my face. Two moles, not bigger than a baby's fingernail, but as of January 2005 they were cancer. So my journey began, in the following March I had the surgery to remove these two moles. It worked, there were times my recovery was a bit more dramatic than what was normal, but I arrived in June at the Relay for Life safe and sound, without Chemo, without painful treatments. As I entered the gym suddenly I was surrounded by dozens of other survivors “real survivors.” I took my pin and my t-shirt as the others were doing, but stopped short of pulling it on. I held it in my hand, and walked around the room. I got away with just holding my shirt for about a half hour before 5 ladies walked over to me and asked: “Why aren't you wearing your shirt.” I told them, and I avoided answering with a smile and kept putting it off. Suddenly those five ladies were stricter than my 2nd grade teacher. “Put it on.” they said “Or we'll put it on you.” 

I put it on.

So I unrolled that yellow shirt and pulled it over my head. Finally, it began to feel real. I was a cancer survivor. The over whelming feeling of acceptance, I had finally allowed myself to be a cancer survivor. Without chemo, or a long and painful battle, I was still a cancer survivor. Those five ladies allowed me, via this now old, stained, and tattered yellow shirt to feel what I needed to be. Proud of what I am.

A cancer survivor. 

Every type of cancer is worth being a proud survivor of. If you have someone in your life who is embarrassed or otherwise ashamed of their story help them become proud of it. They deserve it, and so do you.