Those who have been following my recent journey through a medical challenge, through anxiety and now through grief will understand what I am about to write on this blog post.
It is that the passing of my dear bride, Kathy Anne, to cancer has shattered my heart into a million pieces. Maybe more. The diagnosis of malignant brain cancer came on Dec. 26 and her struggle ended just this past Friday.
We had reason to hope for a positive outcome. Then it became, well, tragic.
What I am learning through my grief is something that I have known intellectually for as long as I have been able to process such things. Which is that I am far from the only person who has lost someone so dear to me to a merciless killer such as cancer.
We started our life together more than 51 years ago. We chose each other to be our partners in life through every peak and valley that our life would confront. We aren’t the first couple to make that pledge. We won’t be the last.
I have to remind myself of that undeniable fact as I grapple with my own grief. I have to tell myself — and I have been doing so frequently in the past 48 or so hours — that I am truly not alone in this struggle.
As near as I can tell, that means this level of grief and sorrow has been with humankind since the very beginning … of time.
My word of advice, therefore, to others who will endure the heartache I am feeling at this moment is that you, too, should keep in mind that if others can get through this unbearable pain, then so can you.
My pain endures, but so will I eventually find the light at the end of this dark journey.
Here in the journey with you pappa John! You are not alone.