The Blessings of Cancer...

When I was diagnosed with cancer in 1998, Dr Paula Whang Ramos told me, "You have been blessed!"

I thought that was a rather strange, and even rude statement to make to a newly diagnosed patient.

I had not come to the realization that "Dr Paula" was correct...while the diagnosis of cancer exposed me to even more suffering than what I had endured during a very difficult lifetime, the diagnosis also afforded me to meet thousands of amazing cancer patients and their dear families...wonderful people that I would never have been blessed to know, had I not been diagnosed with cancer.

As with any difficulty in life, we must resolve to turn our tragedies into victories, if not for ourselves, than certainly for others, so that they may be spared the same sufferings we have experienced. We will not allow adversity to defeat us!

I hope you will find courage and hope in my poems and essays!




Excerpts from the book Cancer Can't Defeat Us!  are posted in blue, on this site:

Believe! (When You Wish Upon a Star)

The Blessings of Cancer

We Choose Hope!

Cab Drivers I Have Known and Loved

Danny Does Time

Lookin' Good! Feelin' Better?

Pioneers in Cancer

Putting it in Perspective

Remarkable!

The Chevron Angels

Stop Picking on Steve Jobs!

The Perfect Day!

The Surgeon

Why Me? (Why Not Me?)


For more essays about cancer survivorship, see the following books:

Prayers from Toro Park
Love Conquers Cancer
Cancer Can't Defeat Us