Kudos to my Aunt and to All Those Fighting Cancer

I want to dedicate this first blog post of 2012 to my aunt Hetty and her battle with breast cancer.

It was the week before the Paris marathon, early April last year. I called my aunt and uncle and talked to my uncle for a while. Well, talking, not really. I asked questions and he said only “yes” or “no”. After the phone conversation I had a weird feeling. My uncle is not the most talkative person in the world but this was odd. I even told my sister about it. Then I left for Paris to run that beautiful race.

When I came back, my aunt called me and told me that the week before they had visited the doctor because she had an infection in her breast. The doctor wanted to do some additional tests but it looked like she might have breast cancer. My aunt was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer not much later.

She would need 6 sessions of chemotherapy (one, every three weeks), a surgery to remove her breast and depending on how all would go, probably a series of radiation treatments following the surgery. My aunt took it all in and started what she knew would be an at least 8 month-fight with cancer.

The chemotherapy went well to the extent that at a certain point my aunt knew exactly which side effect to expect next. Of course, the side effects got more severe the more chemotherapy she had received. She stayed positive, made sure she got the help she needed and in September a date was set for the operation. It was the operation that started the real pain. The wound did not heal as easy and fast as one would hope and the area around her breast and arm got really stiff. Before she could even start the radiation treatment she had to do a lot of physical therapy (and she still does) to allow herself to move up her arm high enough for the radiation to reach the right spots. That all took much longer than expected.

She started radiation treatments early December. She would get 28 treatments in total, 4 per week. Just imagine traveling up and down to the hospital (the hospital is at 30k from their house) every day. Then the last 8 radiation sessions would again be more severe. She had four of them last week. This week, starting tomorrow, will be the last four.

I have nothing but admiration for the way my aunt, with the help of my uncle, her family and friends, has dealt with this insecure and painful process. She stayed positive even though for the last three months she has been in a lot of pain. In principle, she is cancer-free right now.

Hetty, here is to you! You inspire me and I can only hope I would deal with this disease or any other in the way you have dealt with it. Four more days to go and then, I hope you can rest, relax and get back to your normal different self without any more pain and without the cancer returning.

You, together with all these other men and women fighting, recovering from, or having beaten cancer deserve a wonderful 2012.

Rose