No CLL pity parties

Many people I know are struggling with some sort of life threatening disease yet they hang onto Hope. My sister-in-law has multiple diseases and her life is in the balance. One of my cousins is suffering with RA. We almost lost her last year and now it’s threatening her again. My wife’s cousin (would that make him my cousin-in-law?) has CLL like me but his is more advanced. One of his lymph nodes swelled up like a tennis ball. Chemo took it back down and he is doing fine now but his CLL is much more aggressive than mine.

What I’m getting to is I try hard to not have pity parties about myself. There are others struggling much more than I am. Yet they all live their daily lives without giving into despair. Their positive attitudes inspire me.

I hope when/if my condition worsens that I will remain as positive as each of them. We can, and should, fight Leuk by doing our best to take care of ourselves. We must not give into fear because fear can become habitual.

Living the best life we can wins the ultimate fight against him. We must try to find peace and yes, even joy, whether we are still walking around or bedridden. I know this is easy to say but a lot harder to do. And we all have down days.

The people I’ve mentioned certainly get down and even scared sometimes. But, with the help of their loved ones and friends, they go on with their lives and live most of their days brilliantly.

I solute them and hope my own outlook will match theirs. It’s relatively easy for me now but I know there may be difficult challenges ahead. Holding onto Hope is the best way to keep Leuk from dominating our lives.

[photo by Gus Moretta]