Childhood Cancer

These two words should never be in the same statement.

These two words have so much power, together, separately, independently.

Two words that should have nothing in common, should never cross paths, yet they do. With the weight of so much, each has its own related words, synonyms, expectations. And neither refers to the other. The only thing they have in common is the letter ‘C’ and no one ever did well with those in school.

child·hood

noun ‘CHīldˌho͝od/

noun: childhood; plural noun: childhoods

the state of being a child.
“the idealized world of childhood”

Synonyms nonage, springtime, youth

cancer

“The word you’ve entered isn’t in the thesaurus. “

Yet, I am perplexed that there are no other words ‘similar to’ cancer. Really, for a word that holds so much meaning for so many. And yet, it is not in the thesaurus. I am stunned. Haven’t the thesaurus writers ever spoken to a mom who has just heard it mentioned in the same context as their child? Haven’t the thesaurus writers ever researched THAT before??? I am stunned. Sadly childhood cancer is rarely researched.

OK, so let’s look here for a definition.

cancer

noun can·cer \ˈkan(t)-sər\

: a serious disease caused by cells that are not normal and that can spread to one or many parts of the body

: something bad or dangerous that causes other bad things to happen

Tonight I loaded up the kids and William to go to a fabulous art show, PabLOVE Shutterbugs Gallery Show. http://www.pablove.org/nolashow/ . I knew the art was kid’s art, I knew that much…what I didn’t know was how it would affect me and my brood. PabLOVE Shutterbugs was a show of spirit, determination and of excitement. It was a show of youth, energy, perspective and more. Several friends of mine were the ‘Chairs’ of this art show. Tom from Better Than Ezra was there, showing their support, friends of the Pablo’s family were there, the connections were closer than the proverbial 6 degrees of separation. PabLOVE is a big deal. However the big deal was the fact that the artists were actual survivors or patients currently undergoing treatment…

I sat on the floor with my girls climbing all over me, and yet was so moved by ‘B’ (names withheld since I didn’t get permission to publish them) who had his first public speaking gig. He is 15. Hands shaking with a sheet of paper scribbled with all of his notes and thoughts. He read the first few statements, then confidently folded it up and tucked it under his arm. ‘B’ was very tall in stature, and wore a nice jacket with his shoulders held back, nice shoes and stood firmly planted on the ground as he told his story with the poise and style of a well-polished circuit speaker. ‘B’ had earned the right to stand there. He was an artist. He was a survivor.

Truly, it was the parents and the patients who were the focus. Their focus was the focus. What they saw through the lens of their cameras, to be exact. All executed with such grace, such maturity, such clarity. Do we have so much grace, maturity and clarity as the 6, 8, 9 and 15 year olds we spoke with tonight? Do we have focus, excitement, and determination of a child with c.a.n.c.e.r.? I can hardly even write the words in the same sentence. I can hardly begin to know what the magnitude of the words spoken at the same time could hold. I pray that I will NEVER know what it means to speak those words together when speaking about my children. Unless I am talking about how proud I am of the connections that were made tonight! My not yet six year old daughter bravely introduced herself to a little girl 2 years older than she is who was one of the artists. You see, the first thing she connected with was that she also has another friend who lives in Florida with the same name, ‘R’. Her image was of a Lily and Lilypads in a pond. We have a pond with lilypads, but they have never looked as beautiful as the lilypads captured in this little girl’s lens. They have never looked as beautiful as the connection I watched blossom tonight between Ryan and her new friend, ‘R’. Smiles, tenderness and compassion that only I really understood what was really going on. Or, maybe I didn’t. . Before we left ‘R’ told Ryan “We will see each other again!” And it is done. Just like that. Ryan bought the Lily in the Pond from her new artist/survivor friend. Ryan donated to the PabLOVE Foundation. Just like that, Ryan is making a difference. In 3 weeks the prints ship, and in 4 weeks Ryan turns six.

(So…back to my focus. ) What do we focus on when facing such a reality? Is our perspective a ‘bird’s eye view’ or that from a worm? Is it a flower in a pond? A cat? (called Responsibility) A rusty garage door? The Roman Candy wagon? Rosemary and Queens Palms? A blurry window? Blades of grass in front of our grandmother’s house? What about the textures of silver light? Our baby brother in a stroller? Two blue kayaks beside a river? Peacock feathers? A shiny car being worked on my a couple of guys? WHAT DO WE FOCUS ON??? That’s what these children did. And so they help us as well.

Part of my focus is a little friend of mine. He is 9. He is Amish. He is pushing through. I am going to see him and his family in a few weeks. Tonight I am asking you to open your hearts to these two words. Childhood. Cancer. With the help of the PabLOVE Foundation we can raise awareness and make it happen. Visit http://www.pablove.org/about/. PabLOVE is fighting childhood cancer with LOVE. I ask that you begin your prayers to separate those two words. Let’s make that happen, for childhood.