Cherish Life

Dear Chelle-chelle,

Do you remember my friend in this picture (on the very right next to Dad in green)?  Well, we went to visit him at Edward Hospital this past Sunday when his family thought he might die that day.

He was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in January 2012 when he was only 48.  Went through 3 rounds of chemo therapy and finally, in summer of 2013, found out that the cancer had spread to his lung, lymph nodes and also likely pancreas.  He was in severe pain so was hospitalized late last week to get pain medication through IV.  He talked to us for about 20 minutes that day but was very weak...  I think that was it -- for me to see him alive in this world.

It's very hard to describe how traumatized I was by that visit -- it is pretty unbelievable to think about how vulnerable humans are in the face of cancer and/or any other terminal disease.  And by the way, I don't believe he has picked the best oncologist.  I wish there was a way to predict life from 16 years ago (when the picture was taken on 3/7/1997).  But we really had no clue back then.  We took things for granted so often that we did not realize how lucky we were to be young and healthy.

Cherish life, Chelle-chelle.  Anything can happen to anyone at anytime.  We just need to live our lives each and every day with gratitude, optimism, love, hope, courage and strength.  Enjoy life and be productive.  Be the best doctor you can be -- patients like him NEED you.

Love,

Mom