Joan is
Blood Cancer United

What a beautiful wedding, a beautiful bride, and a handsome groom. Love was in the air. For 10 weeks this lovely couple lived in their honeymoon state of mind. They had been blessed with the ability to buy a small condo that they filled with dreams and aspirations of what was to come. Miranda was her name. She was physically very petite but oversized in her desire to be the best wife ever to Joe. Her long, dark hair emphasized those large, dark eyes and creamy clear skin. Ten weeks later, the diagnosis was leukemia. She took it as her personal challenge to do what she must to survive. After chemo treatments, the dark hair was no more, not even her eyebrows were spared. She would go into remission; we cheered. She would slip out of remission; we cried. This cruel fate would repeat itself many times over. The stem cell transplants which were almost a perfect match did not save her. God took her home after three years of treatment.

I was her mother-in-law. We tried to help her as much as possible. We lived through every up and every down. I am now at the doorstep of a cancer clinic for myself. I have lymphoma. I can’t have cancer, but I do have cancer. I can’t have cancer as I feel great and look great for 78 years young. I can’t have cancer as I have a wonderful trip planned, first to New York and then onward to Paris. I can’t have cancer as my best friend is coming to visit. Oh crap!!! I have cancer.