Staff Blog by: Kathy in Communications
Prevention can come at all stages of life.
For instance, there is my neighbor, Judy. As the crow flies, Judy and her husband Jack are my closest full-time neighbors.
I live in the woods on a small spring-fed river in north Florida and recently some of my neighbors – including Jack and Judy -- got together to enjoy the weather, some chili and a full-moon canoe ride down the river.
It was especially good to see Judy. More than 9 months ago, Judy found out she had cancer in some prime locations. Since then her body has been poisoned on a semi-monthly basis.
Ironically, Judy has always worried—though not openly--about Jack, a big guy who enjoys his cigars and evening cocktail, and who overcame prostate cancer more than a year ago. In all the years Jack flew around the world as a pilot (he’s now retired), Judy got the hang of putting aside uncomfortable feelings and just got the job done….raising two kids, working, caring for sick relatives, enjoying life.
Best I can tell, putting worry aside is a skill that is coming in handy these days.
The first round of chemo beat back the cancer a bit, and that ever desired/feared report card that tells her and her doctors what is happening inside her body brought good news. Now she is taking a different mix of medicines, trying to beat the cancer into surrender.
All this is pretty hard to watch. Jack and Judy have one of those wonderful relationships where they actually like being together and spend most weekends driving to see their kids and grandkids. Not many days that go by that she doesn’t talk to her daughter at least once a day.
Here’s why Judy is so inspiring:
She showed up last night. And she showed up at the last neighborhood party. And the one before that. And at every important family event. And at everything that is important to her.
Judy is fighting the disease to the best of her ability. It is her own kind of preventive medicine. Prevention is not only what you do, it’s how you think
While she is not in denial and will discuss the uncomfortable facts anytime, Judy is living life. She is making jokes about her lack of hair. She is keeping up with politics. She knows the latest on the people in our small town who she got to know while working at the local bank. She is eating the organic food her son recommends. She is making plans about what gifts to get the grandkids.
She is showing up.