My Mission Moment

On July 3, I volunteered to provide the mission moment for the group run.  Below is what I shared:


Everyone here knows that I am running for Anna.  Because she's been the mission moment for the last 2 weeks, I felt I should come up with a different story to share.  But before I do, I want to share some great news.  The test results show she is now in remission!

So, in preparing to do my mission moment, I took to the internet and stumbled upon the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Life Mosaic site. At our second GTS, we met up here at Eau Claire and for our mission moment, Sheena directed us to wander through an amazing cancer photo exhibit that had been erected right here - this website is very similar, except it is all inspirational stories of blood cancer patients and survivors.   I'd like to share one of the stories I read on this site as my mission moment today. Lemme tellya it was hard to narrow it down to one…

This is Joe's story:

It's been a year now since I was first diagnosed.

'You have cancer,' the surgeon told my wife and me. 'I'm sorry.'

We went to the oncologist and found out that I had advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with bone marrow involvement. 'We can try a new drug that has hope,' my doctor told us. 'It's called Rituxan.' We will give it to you in high doses with your chemo treatments. Expect the worst by December from the medicine.'He was wrong. The 'worst' was telling my daughter.

How could I tell a 5-year-old that her daddy might die? How was I going to hold my family together through this crisis? Should I prepare for my own death? Cancer seemed so unpredictable to me. Why do some people live and why do some people die?

My daughter withdrew from me, my wife held us together, and I went through the much-dreaded chemo for six months. March was my last treatment, and all the test have shown that I am in remission.My daughter has once again become 'daddy's little girl,' and my wife did a wonderful job of holding it all together. Our lives will never be the same, and I think of what I went through every day. I have to go back to the doctor once every three months for checkups, but that is a small price to pay to be alive.


This is an amazing website and I encourage everyone to check it out at http://www.llslifemosaic.com  The stories shared there are such a powerful reminder of why we are here.  Together we are making a difference!