Tag Archives: cancer

medical news

Lessons keep piling up

One of the many lessons I am learning as I cope with my life being turned upside down, inside out and shredded into a million little pieces is that my emotions can run across a gigantic field.

I am alternately frightened, heartened, saddened and joyful. Sometimes those emotions come all come at once.

My wife’s fight against cancer is just beginning. She is tough and resolute. We are hopeful for a positive outcome, and we have ample reason to expect one. Her radiation and chemo treatments begin soon after she leaves the hospital where she has stayed since Dec. 26. Her discharge date is just about at hand.

She is receiving expressions of love and support from far and wide, from people we know and love, from casual acquaintances, even from people she’s never met. That love strengthens me beyond all measure.

And I’ll be candid about one more point. I had said on this blog that I would take a break from commenting on political matters as we commence this fight. I am withdrawing that pledge. Why? Because I feel strong enough emotionally to dish out some criticism and yes, offer some praise when it’s warranted.

The love that is coming our way is delivering that strength.

For that, as well as for the love that is pouring in, I thank you.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Life teaches stern lessons

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To be candid, my bride and I have not envisioned ourselves sitting on easy chairs at the beach, watching the tide roll in and out as we march on through our retired life.

Our plan always has been to travel hither and yon. We sold our RV recently, but our travel plans remain intact.

But … first things first.

We have a health issue to battle and to whip. You see, my bride was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her brain. The doctor removed most of it. The plan now is to blast the rest of it out of there through an aggressive treatment of radiation and chemotherapy. The docs are clear about the intent of this therapy: to shrink what’s left of the tumor … with the aim of eliminating it altogether!

My optimism is high. More importantly, so is hers. This challenge has taught us many valuable lessons. We are receiving love from family and friends. It’s even coming from people we don’t know well. The lesson has been to accept it with open arms and hearts.

The next lesson has been that no matter how smoothly your journey through life has been, one should always expect to encounter the occasional shock to one’s system. My wife’s shock arrived the day after Christmas when she received the diagnosis of a mass in her brain.

The journey, though, continues along a different path than what we had envisioned. The destination remains the same and for that I will stay focused. More importantly, so will my bride.

Our blessings mount even as we embark on the effort to face down this challenge. They provide us with optimism looking ahead. They are coming in the form of the love that is pouring forth. I can state with absolute certainty that the love will sustain us.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

We need more like her

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This photo sums up what I believe is lacking in today’s troubled and topsy-turvy world.

That would be grit, coupled with determination. Throw in some raw courage and unbounded optimism.

The photo you see is of my late cousin Becky Olson. She died in late April of cancer. She had five recurrences of the disease.

I have spoken already on this blog about her. I left a couple of things unsaid. So, here goes.

Mourning a painful loss while honoring a glorious legacy | High Plains Blogger

Becky chose not to wallow in self-pity when she received her diagnosis. Yes, she surely was saddened and frightened. However, she powered through her treatments. She lived on.

Instead of feeling remorse and sorrow over her condition, she chose instead to co-found an organization called Breast Friends. She used the foundation as a platform to reveal to the world an immense wellspring of courage. She imparted that courage to others suffering from cancer. She became a motivational speaker, parlaying her singing talent and remarkable stage presence into a presentation that she gave all across the country. She wrote a book, “The Hat That Saved My Life,” which tells of her struggle.

What is lacking today? Much more of that kind of boundless energy. Becky presented an optimistic view of this world and of life. Did she have her moments of angst, anxiety and fear? Of course she did! However, none of that deterred Becky from the mission she was dedicated to completing until the very end of her journey on this good Earth.

She was the voice of hope. How in the world does one go through this life without it?

local news

Mourning a painful loss while honoring a glorious legacy

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

My heart is shattered.

An anticipated phone call came this morning, but hearing the news that our family had expected didn’t make it any easier. My cousin died this morning of cancer that she had battled ferociously for a quarter century.

Her name was Becky Phillips Olson; she was the second child of the younger of my mother’s two brothers.

I want to share with you what made Becky so very special to all of us who loved her.

Simply put, Becky taught us how to live. She fought through five recurrences of cancer that started in her breast. Along the way, she committed her life’s work to giving comfort to others who endure the agony, the emotional and physical pain, as well as the fear that accompanies this killer disease.

She co-founded an organization she named Breast Friends. She and her foundation partner became motivational speakers. Becky would tour the nation sharing her story with others. She did so with humor and with blunt talk.

Becky wrote a book that she titled “The Hat That Saved My Life.” It tells of her struggle through cancer, of the hat she wore when she lost her hair from the chemotherapy treatments. The hat gave her some measure of strength to go through her days while engaging in this brutal struggle. The truth is that she didn’t actually need the hat to see her through. Her immense strength came from within her marvelous soul.

The cancer that began in one part of her body had spread dramatically. Becky was the quintessential force of nature who was blessed with a spirit and inner strength that were as formidable as any I ever have witnessed in any human being I have encountered along the way.

Our world today is significantly dimmer because Becky Olson has left it. However, Becky Olson’s legacy lives on in those who sought assurance from someone who turned her suffering and pain into tools she used to provide strength and comfort.

One cannot possibly have done more than that.

medical news

Cold turkey: It’s the way to quit

I can’t believe I almost forgot about this landmark anniversary.

It was 40 years ago this past Sunday that I changed my life for the better and perhaps even lengthened it.

I quit smoking. Cold turkey, man! I didn’t need no prescription drug to wean me of the weeds. I didn’t need any counseling sessions, other than with my wife.

I started smoking at about the age of 15. By the time I reached age 30, I had become a two-pack-a-day man. The cigarettes have taken a toll on my health. I developed a nagging “smoker’s cough.” But, what the heck, a cigarette would make it go away … or so I deluded myself.

Then on the Second of February, 1980 I lit up a smoke. I took a drag. I choked on it.

My next thought at that moment was this, and I kid you not: What the hell am I doing here?

I snuffed that cigarette out. I tossed it into the garbage. Then I reached into my pocket for the pack of cigarettes waiting to be lit, crumpled it up and threw it, too, into the trash.

I was done. Finished. I haven’t put a lit cig to my mouth since. I have become somewhat militant about smoking as I have aged over the years. So has my wife. My total aversion to smoking has caused some tension, truth be told, among those with whom I have socialized. Here’s my favorite example of what happened.

More than 10 years ago, I was touring Israel with four of my best friends. We attended a party in the southern part of the country. There was plenty of food and beverage. At the end of the meal, our hosts lit up a hookah, which we used to refer to in the old days as a “water pipe” or “bong.” I was asked if I wanted to partake. I said “no.” They kept insisting. I kept saying “no” with even more vigor than the previous time. This back/forth went on far longer than I wished.

At the end of it, I am certain I offended my hosts by not enjoying the hookah vapors. What I could not explain to them was that smoking from that device terrified me. I never was a casual or “social” smoker. I was addicted to nicotine. The addiction frightened me to never wanting to be tempted again beyond my strength.

And so it has gone. I read not long after I quit smoking that one’s lungs can restore themselves over time. I surely trust that has happened to me.

What’s more, I long ago quit calling myself a “former smoker.” I am a non-smoker … and proud of how I became one.

medical news

Cure for AIDS and childhood cancer on tap?

Donald Trump went way overboard in handing out grand promises during a political rally this week in Cincinnati.

First, he said he intends to find a cure for HIV/AIDS “very soon.” How soon? That remains to be seen and perhaps how the president defines the term “very soon.”

Second, he announced his intention to cure childhood cancer.

There you go. Two deadly diseases are headed for extinction on this president’s watch. Naturally, the crowd cheered. Hey, who can blame them? I mean, it was their guy making the dubious boasts, although the subject of the prediction certainly is worth cheering, no matter how serious one should take the claim being made by the miracle worker in chief.

What will happen, though, if we don’t find a cure for HIV/AIDS or childhood cancer by the time Trump leaves office? I am presuming he means in January 2025, at the end of his second term. Oh, the humanity, if he gets re-elected next year.

I suppose he’ll blame Democrats in Congress for however short he might fall in that grand prediction.

I am going to hope that Trump delivers on the grand effort, although I have about as much confidence in his delivering the goods as I do on his insistence that “Mexico will pay for The Wall.”

medical news

Sen. McCain faces the final fight

The news was expected, but it remains a stunner nevertheless.

U.S. Sen. John McCain today announced he is terminating treatment to fight the aggressive brain cancer that has kept him at home for several months. He has fought the good fight, but as he noted in his statement, age (he is 81) and the cancer have taken their toll.

He doesn’t want to fight any longer.

This saddens me terribly. It should sadden all Americans who understand the sacrifice this man has made in the line of duty to the country he loves. He has spent more than 50 years serving his country: as a Naval aviator, a U.S. House member, a U.S. senator and a Republican presidential nominee.

He was shot down in 1967 over Hanoi during the height of the Vietnam War and taken prisoner. He served heroically — despite the claims of one prominent GOP politician.

Did I agree with Sen. McCain’s politics, his policy, his philosophy? No. This blog post, though, pays tribute to his service, his courage, his fortitude, guts, perseverance and dedication to country.

I know it’s no longer plausible to wish this brave warrior a full recovery. Glioblastoma is, in the words of Sen. McCain’s good friend former Vice President Joe Biden, “as bad as it gets.” However, the former VP has spoken often in the past about his friend’s courage in the face of insurmountable odds.

There is a lesson to be learned here. Politicians who cannot summon the courage to do the right thing when the chips are down need to steal a page from John McCain’s book of life’s lessons.

He is, as CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer described him this morning when the news broke, “a great American.”

May he find comfort and strength in the days ahead knowing that the nation is praying for him.

political news

No one knows how much ‘time they have left’

U.S. Sen. John S. McCain said the following regarding his struggle against brain cancer: “Maybe I’ll have another five years, maybe with the advances in oncology they’ll find new treatments for my cancer that will extend my life. Maybe I’ll be gone before you hear this, my predicament is, well, rather unpredictable.”

The Arizona Republican made that assessment on an audio recording relating to his new book, which is to be published later this month.

I want to offer a bit of perspective that I hope, dear reader, you take in the spirit I offer it. I offer this to give Sen. McCain more than a glimmer of hope in his valiant fight.

It is merely that no one knows “how much longer” they’ll be here.

I enjoy good health. I don’t expect to die in the next 30 minutes. No one — except those intent on purposely ending their life — should know when their time is up.

I surely want Sen. McCain to beat the disease he is battling. I want him to return to the Senate, where he has served for more than three decades. I want him to continue to speak out, to lend his voice to the issues of the day. Will I agree with him always? Oh, probably not. Indeed, I’m likely to disagree him more than agree with the senator.

I get the fatalism he is expressing in his memoir, “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations,” but let’s seek to keep it in some semblance of perspective. It well might be that McCain believes he has been living on borrowed time as it is, given what he endured from 1967 to 1973 as a Vietnam War prisoner who suffered unbearable and unspeakable torture at the hands of his captors.

I want him to draw a bit of strength from the belief that no one can know when the end will come. No one!

national news, political news

Former VPOTUS offers a teachable moment for all pols

Joe Biden has this way of comforting those who are in pain.

The former vice president demonstrated that remarkable skill the other morning on a live TV show I was watching with my wife.

Vice President Biden was visiting the set of “The View,” the all-woman gabfest that features guests to talk about “hot topics” and other matters. One of the co-hosts happens to be Meghan McCain, daughter of U.S. Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee who lost that presidential election to Biden’s running mate, Barack H. Obama.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sa8G-VR13Q

Sen. McCain is fighting glioblastoma, a virulent form of brain cancer. The senator’s daughter began discussing Biden’s recent book in which he talks about the disease, which claimed his son, Beau, in 2015. Meghan started crying. She apologized to the former VP, who then swapped chairs with “View” co-host Sunny Hostin. He grasped Meghan McCain’s hands, offering her comfort as she told him how she thinks of Beau Biden daily while her father wages the fight of his life against cancer.

Biden told her to never give up hope. He urged her to follow her dad’s example of courage in the face of daunting challenge. He also sought to encourage Meghan by telling her of medical advancements that are being made in the fight to quell the disease Sen. McCain is battling.

What’s more, the vice president sought to tell Meghan McCain that her father is the politician who understands that political foes — such as Biden and McCain were during their time together in the Senate — need not be enemies. He told her his son, Beau, admired Sen. McCain’s “courage,” the type he demonstrated while being held captive during the Vietnam War.

Biden also reminded Meghan that her father was always there for those on the other side of the political divide. He spoke of his longstanding friendship with Sen. McCain.

The lesson here is obvious.

Democrats and Republicans in today’s political environment too often demonize each other. By that I mean they question their patriotism, their love of country, their motivation. Joe Biden sought to tell the daughter of one of his best Senate friends that her dad does not operate that way.

It’s a lesson I wish fervently would somehow sink in on both sides of the gaping chasm that separates the political parties operating in Washington — under the Capitol Hill dome and inside the walls of the White House.

national news

‘Give it hell,’ Sen. McCain

I’ve opposed many of John McCain’s public policy pronouncements over the years. None of that opposition, though, has stood in the way of my admiration for him as a dedicated public servant who brought a hero’s stature to his service in the U.S. Senate.

Sen. McCain, the Arizona Republican, is now in the fight of his life.

Doctors removed a blood clot from near his eye and now have revealed that the veteran lawmaker is suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer.

His daughter Meghan calls him the “toughest person” she’s ever known. Tributes have poured in from throughout the nation, across the political chasm that divides the nation.

Donald Trump and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, sent their  “thoughts and prayers.” Former Presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush sent their heartfelt prayers as well.

Barack Obama, with whom Sen. McCain tussled as the two men ran for the presidency in 2008 and while Obama served two terms as president, said this in a message via Twitter: “John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.”

Check out the messages to Sen. McCain.

He earned his hero status the hard way by being shot down during the Vietnam War and by being held captive for more than five years by North Vietnam. He was tortured, beaten to within inches of his life, denied medical treatment for the injuries he suffered when his plane crashed into a lake in downtown Hanoi.

But he persevered. He struggled. He fought back.

As President Obama said, “Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against.”

John McCain became a national figure the moment he entered Congress and he has served the nation with honor.

We’re pulling for you, senator.