by Linda McCullough
October 2000

Yesterday I was visiting with a friend whose life has been touched by cancer. In the course of our conversation yet another acquaintance walked up and shared a little bit about her husband’s battle with cancer. As I listened to these brave ladies talk about their concern for their husbands I thought about my own cancer and how it affected the people who cared about me.

You hear the term “battle with cancer” so much when reading about the cancer patient, but the more I listened to these wives the more I realized that the battle was very much theirs too. It seems that we, the patient, get so much credit for being “survivors.” And we are, but not without those who survive with us.

In my own life I learned that my family’s fight and mine wasn’t against cancer but against a much darker force. And it was a fight that, thank goodness, we did not fight alone. Cancer is a disease. Period. Granted, it can be a devastating one, but it is still a disease. The real battle is against what some would have you believe and feel. Alone, angry, hopeless, without a future. You think that there is nothing to rejoice in. Oh how wrong.

First I found that we were not alone. We have family, friends, co workers and others in the same “fight.” And the wonderful doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals that walk this walk with us. It is anything but hopeless. How could it be?

Then there is the matter of what there is to rejoice in. How many friends, new and old we discover. How we come to look at the world around us in a different way and glory in everyday things like rain and ice cream, and your children’s hands. How precious every person we meet is and every moment we experience.

Some would have these ladies and the many other loved ones crumble in fear of the future. But I saw in both of them a strength and courage that I would match against any soldier on any battlefield. I bet if you asked either of them if they were brave they would say no. But I have seen that they have “courage under fire.” Courage to smile at those around them. Courage to support others as well as their husbands. Courage to stand up and face whatever comes with true bravery. And courage to know that, even in their darkest hour, they are not alone.

I praise God in Heaven for the many loved ones of cancer patients that truly show courage under fire. They are every bit the “survivors” we are.