A friend of mine started doing a Thankful Thursday post on her newly operating blog and today, I just couldn't resist.
Today, I'm thankful for my health.
I'm also 21 weeks along in this pregnancy now.
The two are tied together in obvious ways, but in my mind they're tied together in other ways as well.
I remember during my first pregnancy that I felt like my complaints of the sickness for the first half of it were futile when I thought of a high school friend that was fighting and ultimately lost her 29 year old life to cancer. It all started with back pain, which was then diagnosed as stage 4 colon cancer, and the battle was lost less than a year later. I felt like Kim was stronger than Anna.
This time around, I feel like my complaints regarding pregnancy...which is truly a gift of life, not only for the baby, but also for the parents...are futile once more when I think of the trials an acquaintance has been going through. I only met her a few times, but am closer with members of her family. For her, it all started with headaches, which wound up (after several tests) being diagnosed as hypoplastic myelodysplastic syndrome (which I can never remember the name of and have referred to as a rare blood disease, although the true definition is probably different). She, too has lost her battle at age 27 less than a year after the diagnosis, following several treatments, living constantly in the hospital (until these last few days), and a failed bone marrow transplant. She passed away this morning. Again, I feel like Laura was stronger than Anna.
It's heartbreaking to me, as I put myself in their shoes or in the shoes of the loved ones, friends, and family alike that surrounded these beautiful women that had their whole lives before them, with solid foundations to build on. When I think of their stories, sometimes I feel weak. I also question what I'm really doing with my life here on Earth. But today...I feel thankful for my health and feel that their stories help me focus on what truly matters in life and reprioritize things when I let them shift.
Thank you, Kim and Laura, for sharing your stories.
If you are interested, read them for yourself on the following blogs.
Kim Gwaltney Miller
Laura Grubl Gillette
Welcome to the world as we know it! We're glad you stopped in to check on us...Enjoy!
1 comment:
Thank you for this friend....you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing here on Earth. Feeling these stories, keeping them alive, being the voice to these women who can't tell their story anymore and exposing YOUR circle to their lives. It's all Laura ever wanted from this-to make sure that her story lives on. To bring awareness to a topic that many people know nothing about. To give some other family the CHANCE that we had with her. Maybe the chance to live, maybe the chance to be by a loved one's side in the final moments of life like we had with Laura. Thank you for this.
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