A Particularly Painful Loss

Paul_Cancer_Survivor

If this has happened to you, you know how severe an emotional jolt it can be.

We learn that cancer has taken the life of a friend or a family member. Perhaps we didn’t even know this person had cancer.

The death of this person is especially difficult. It is as if we once again lose something of ourselves. Memories of the times we spent together can easily return with surprising intensity, as if cancer has somehow managed to amplify the sorrow we feel.

Even if this person enjoyed a good long life, with little or no suffering at the end, it still seems as if our sadness is especially extreme.

We do our best to ride this out, to recognize the loss of this person can’t help but prompt us to consider our own mortality. Difficult as it may be, we can try to gather up the fond memories, to focus on the good times and be thankful for the days we shared.

We don’t want to be self-centered and we don’t want our egos to take the wheel. But when cancer takes the life of someone we care for deeply, the loss can’t help but magnify our pain.

This is humanity. We do our best to recognize our thoughts, to accept this emotional blow and to steer our own life forward.

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Let’s do all we can to stay confident and push back against cancer when it tries to rattle us.

And all the best.