I wrote this blog post about a week and a half ago and just saved it because I was hesitant about posting it, but I decided today that I should go ahead and share. It’s not relevant to Urban Homesteading or Real Estate, but I think it will resonate with others who have lived through cancer or walked alongside someone during the fight. Also, a very positive update to the status since I originally wrote this- Nathan’s liver is NOT failing, praise the Lord! His shingles just decided to attack his body from the inside-out so everything was struggling to keep up. After several weeks in the hospital, he is expected to be discharged hopefully this coming weekend and can finally go home. He still has an unknown road ahead cancer-wise, but this shingles setback is almost behind him.
Here is my original post:
I don’t think I’ve really established the intent of this blog yet, but my first post said I would share tidbits about my life, so this is a tidbit I suppose. Life can be a lot of things…
For Nathan-
Kool-Aid Stands
Lincoln Logs
Sand Boxes & Centipedes
Matchbox Cars
Walnuts
Climbing Tree (with our own designated sitting spots)
Make-believe houses made out of leaves
Bicycle Races
Radio Flyer Wagon
Cowboys and Indians
Road trips to Oregon in the back of Grandma and Grandpa’s Buick
Hidden fort among the trees
Baseball (and trading cards)
Hide and Seek
Ticking Clocks
Sleepovers
Basketball
Picky Eating
Nintendo
Grandma and Grandpa’s front porch swing
Holidays
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These are all the things I remember when I look into the eyes of my cousin Nathan, who is now fighting the tough battle so many of us know as cancer. My cousin is just 29 years young and I still see my childhood best friend beyond those tired eyes. He’s been at war with this disease for the last four-ish years. I still remember the voicemail my Mom left me telling me the news, where I was when I listened to it, and the anger and emotions that swarmed the depths of my being at that moment. I also remember calling him for the first time after getting the news to see how he was feeling and what the next steps were. He told me about how his grandma (on his other side of the family) prayed over him and he felt the presence of God for the first time. It’s hard to understand what a relief and comfort that is if you don’t believe or have a relationship with God, but this gave me hope and peace back then and it still does now. I don’t know what lies ahead for Nathan in his current state, lately it seems like one step forward, two steps back, but he hasn’t given up the fight and I don’t expect that he will.
Nathan and I were the only grandchildren to our Grandma Polly and Grandpa Troy for the first 7-8 years of our lives, so we were more like brother and sister, attached at the hip. I’m pretty sure we actually thought the world revolved around us during those years. Even beyond that, Nathan and I were very close until my Grandma Polly passed away when I was about 11 years old. She was the glue that held the two of us together. After she passed, we didn’t get to see each other as often and our lives went their own ways as we traveled into our teenage years and adulthood. However, there is something so significant about a childhood best friend that forever leaves it’s mark, and Nathan is that to me.
If there is anything positive I can say about this cancer, it’s that it’s brought us back to a point of understanding and cousinhood friendship.
If you pray, please pray for Nathan. He has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He’s been through so many different chemo treatments, radiation, two stem cell transplants, and he currently has shingles due to his weakened immune system and potential liver failure, which we are currently waiting for the results from the Biopsy for. Pray that the cancer hasn’t spread and that full restoration is ahead.
THE BURBS AND THE BEES 