"End Notes" is about putting
it all into perspective. The centerpiece for End Notes is a booklet
published last year by the foundation:
"What Now? Tales of Coping and
Courage, Commitment and Concern, Inspirational Adventures
ion Medical Experience, Hopes and Fears, Dreams and Nightmares,
Odyesseys, Explorations, Achievements, Speed Bumps and Wake Up
Calls, by the Cared for and Caring". (Available from the
Foundation for the cost of printing and shipping, $ 10.00). At
the bottom of this page are links to some excerpts
from some of the articles.
Into
each life some rain must fall, as sure as the sun must shine.
There are good events and bad events and things in between. We’ve
all been there; the joy, the pain, loved ones die, and the bad
guys live on, we win and lose and often draw even, in this voyage
called life.
Millions
of people each year are told that they have a deadly cancer, and
that the end is close, often very close. It’s stressful and
frightening, and made the more so when it’s a rare misunderstood
disease for which there is no known cure or clear prognosis. Of
all the cancers known to medical science, lymphomas are the only
cancer which are growing in numbers and for which the cure rate
has not statistically improved. Unlike a tumor, which you can
remove or zap, blood cancers are systemic, hard to find, harder
to treat, and frightening.
Yet,
for some of us, the lucky and plucky survivors, life does go on.
There is no scientific evidence that intestinal fortitude or mental
attitude improves the odds, but the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming.
Your attitude matters, your attitude determines your altitude.
"Come,
fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring, Your Winter-garment of
Repentance fling; The Bird of Time has but a little way to Flutter,
-and the Bird is on the Wing" (Rubaiyat).
Herein
are tales of heroes and heroines, patients and caregivers, the
strong brought to their knees to rise again, and now to tell you
how they found courage and learned to cope.
They
are gathered here to share with us their secrets of how to live
the good life, how to cope with a terminal disease, how to go
on and make the very most what we all have, for now. One friend,
after diagnosis, went on canoeing the next day, and saw a leaf
drift by, speckled by sunlight, rocking in ripples, and realized
it was the most beautiful leaf she had ever seen.
We
are fortunate to have warning that life is precious and tentative,
and the time to enjoy it is right now, right here. Many people
never get the warning, never get a chance to live fully.
"Ah,
make the most of what we yet may spend, before we too into the
dust descend; Dust into Dust and under Dust to lie, without Wine;
or Song, or Singer and — without End!"
Michael
Luttrell, Editor <MichaelEL@pacbell.net>
March 2001
