Cancer Among Us

Everyone knows that opposites attract. That was no different in the case of Marcia and Joel.

I have known Marcia (my niece on my husband's side) since she was twelve and I was nineteen. Even then, her mouth ran a mile a minute. But it has never been ramblings. She is an intelligent person and everything that she has ever said, was worth listening to.

Joel on the other hand had always been known as the quiet boy in school. Even once he began seeing Marcia and we knew that it was serious, rarely would we hear Joel speak. Though over the years Joel became more involved in the conversations and he had a sense of humor about everything. He was an easy going guy that found the best of the worst.

Joel and his family have always been physically fit. Though Joel had a sweet tooth...He loved candy. Now we are not talking about a candy bar. He would have a bag of candy all to himself. We often joke about his candy addiction.

If Joel had any signs that something was wrong, he had chosen to ignore it. The day that he went in for a routine dental appointment, Joel felt ill. From the dentist office, he ended up at the hospital. This is when our family was told of Joel's colon cancer.

An early sign of colon cancer is treatable, but Joel was not in the early stages. Treatment was done and it became a long road.

A year and a half later, Joel was back to his healthy self. Everyone thought he beat it. He was back working full time and doing all the things we take for granted.

But then it all turned. He became thin and complained of feeling cold. In the summer, going to a softball game took a lot of energy out of him. He said he could no longer enjoy himself with his children. On October 13, 2008 he lost his two year fight with cancer.

(Their children as of 2009 were 13 and 11. The picture above is a little further back in time.)

Beautiful wavy raven black hair with deep dark brown eyes; she had a heart of gold. Fifteen and already knew she wanted to be a teacher. Everyday, Linda would practice her teaching skills. She would stand by the green freestanding chalkboard in the bedroom she shared with her little sister, Sandy. She would begin with simple add and subtraction equations for this five year old. Linda taught her sister to read, learn the alphabet and how to spell some words before starting school. Back in those days, most children didn't learned all that before going to kindergarten.

Linda was more than a sister. She was a protector and friend. She protected her little sister from the brother, who would punch this little girl in the arm on a daily basis. Linda would command him to stop. And he would for a while. Sandy looked up to her big sister and felt a special bond. Linda never complained when Sandy would cling to her like a little puppy.

It was a great time in life until that spring day...

Linda was at school walking between classes, when suddenly her knee buckled underneath. Falling to the ground, she couldn't get up. Fellow students carried her to the office. Then later carried her to the car where her mother with sister waited. From there they drove to the hospital.

A large tumor was found on her knee. The surgeon had said he had successfully removed the cancer. Linda's leg was plastered in a cast. All her friends and the support from the church were there for her. Linda said that soon she would be walking again and everything would be back to normal.

Off came the cast and the crutches. Everything seemed fine, until an examination shown the cancer was back. Perhaps it never left. Now it was spreading throughout the bones.

It all seemed to move so fast. Soon Linda's once strong body had betrayed her. She was confined to a wheelchair. And her baby sister moved into the brother's room.

The pain was getting harder to hide. It showed on her face and you could hear it in her voice. But she still had her strength in family, friends and faith.

Linda gave a good fight to bone cancer for two years. At age 17, Linda was at peace. The family said she was too perfect for this world.