02 November 2011

Cancer strikes again.


Cancer is such a festering asshole. Last night, cancer, or that is, the treatment for it, killed a woman who has been on the periphery of my life for 33 years. That is, she's never been my best friend, but I've never really lost track of what's going on eith her, either. We were in Brownies together, we went to each others birthday paerties for years. Then I moved, but I still heard about her from a friend who was in the same area. My Mom is friends with someone who knows them well, so the updates came regularly enough.

Laurie was 37, same as me. She's not had it easy, health-wise. When we were little, she was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. CF is a bitch all unto itself. But somehow, she weathered that well enough. I ran into her a few times in University and she was full of life. She got a degree in Education and became a teacher of the wee little ones. She got married. She had kids. She's leaving behind a three year old and 19 month old twins. It breaks my heart that these kids will not remember their Mom.

You remember how I started this post, right? Cancer. CF didn't get Laurie. Cancer did. When her babies were wee, she was diagnosed with Leukemia. She went through chemotherapy with newborn babies at home. And it worked. It killed the cancer. But it destroyed her liver. And she died.

And now I'm sitting at the ocean, watching the waves and the sun peaking through the clouds, listening to the seagulls mournful cries, and I'm crying for the life of a woman I haven't seen in almost 20 years and her babies who will never get to know her. And I curse Cancer. I shout at God that there had better be some fucking answers when all is said and done.

I'm going to leave my rants about the Cancer industry to another post. But look for it, it's coming. This post is just for Laurie. I hope God is treating you well now.