Three of the most frightening words in the English language may be “you have cancer.”
There is a four-letter word that is appropriate to the diagnosis.
Hope.
It’s a small word compared to the rest of the vocabulary. We use it often — I hope my boss doesn’t see me coming in late; I hope I catch some fish; I hope I win the big lottery. Randy Arnold told a story of hope Saturday morning at a brunch for cancer survivors and caregivers that is a prelude to the American Cancer Society Relay for Life Friday evening through Saturday morning.
The abbreviated story is that in October 2008 he flew to Ohio to be with his father as he underwent surgery for colon cancer. The surgery went well, but the recovery did not.
In November of that year, during a routine exam, Arnold’s doctor found something that was suspicious enough to refer him to a specialist. In December he heard the words, “you have cancer.”
In January, on the same day that his father died, Arnold learned the extent of his own cancer — stage three and aggressive. Hope was not uppermost in his mind.
“I was devastated,” he said.
His doctor hoped that surgery, radiation and hormonal treatments would alleviate some of the pain and suffering and add months, perhaps years to his life. His family and friends rallied around, hoping for a positive outcome.
After the surgery, in which it was impossible to remove all of the cancer that had spread outside of the prostate, the doctor hoped the 30 radiation treatments would eliminate the rest and prevent its spread to the bones.
In 2009, Arnold had hoped to attend the Relay for Life, but he felt too ill from the treatments. In November 2009 his hopes came true — he was found to be cancer-free. “Hope is what we all hang our hats on,” he said. “Hope is the common denominator in my story. I continue to have hope, as we all do, that one day a cure will be found.
“I didn’t realize hope was such a big story to this organization (the American Cancer Society and its local Relay for Life committees)” Arnold said. “I don’t think my story is all that unusual.”
Barbara Ramsey and Betty Keller are sisters who share another bond. Both have had lymphoma — Ramsey once and Keller is completing treatment for her fourth bout. It’s not inherited, Ramsey said, theorizing that perhaps they both had been exposed to a contributing factor, pesticides maybe, growing up on a farm.
