It is May 1st, and outside it has been snowing almost all day and my friend just called to tell me she has breast cancer, stage 2. My friend, not someone in their 60s, which some of my friends happen to be, but my friend from college, the one that from the first day at my dorm hall meeting I knew I would be friends with. The one that helped me grow up in the second set of formative years that are college life.
I feel helpless only because I actually am. I can’t cure, perform surgery, or medically help in any way. This is the selfish Gena who just wants to be useful. I have watched many women march through the gauntlet of cancer from my days at Hope Cancer Center and I realize the depth of my ineptitude. But I have learned that life isn’t about abilities as much as it is about relationships. So I can offer in my little hands a little compassion and friendship hoping that weak salve can do some little thing.
So if you pray or meditate or whatever it is you do when the chips seem down, do that for my friend. I pray now for her and her children, husband, and family. When tonight these miles seems so especially long between here and my old life, I pray for mercy and hope, peace and healing.
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