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subject: Cancer and The Myopic Vortex [print this page]


Cancer seems to touch many livesCancer seems to touch many lives. When a diagnosis is given to a patient and family it very often rocks their world. Life makes a dramatic change, and includes new people, experiences and expenses. This is not an easy time, and only immediate needs and attention are what close family members can muster.

What do we need to do tomorrow? What will happen if the news gets worse? What will happen after the next test? The number of decisions and tasks cancer families need to address push out regular life and they are lost in a myopic view of the present.

We have seen family members go hungry and forgo sleep as they keep pace with the hectic treatment schedule. When those closest to the patient are trapped in this vortex of the here and now an extended network of family, friends, and neighbors seem to step in.

Quiet hands come and clean the house, mow the lawn, tend children and bring in meals for the family. This network is not asking "How can I help?" They are asking, "Where do I put the clothes, now that I have them washed and folded?" or "Where do you store the vacuum? "

There are sometimes no questions at all, just a fresh loaf of bread on the door step, and a yard all mowed and trimmed.

Kindness and friendship are the hallmarks of comminutes, and those two characteristics will bring the community and the people they serve, peace and healing. Joining in the process and support for cancer families is simple. Remember the idiom "Many hands make light work".

If you find yourself in a community network helping a person or family with cancer, keep this one thing in mind: No one is expecting you to cure the cancer. Just do your part, your thing, what you can do and are able to do. As many hands come together burdens will be lifted, hearts will be lifted and tears will be joined with smiles of gratitude.

Do you want some ideas on what you can do? Want to see a list? How can you help? Just stop, think and ponder in a quiet place and ask these questions:

What do I do for myself every day? Can I do that for someone else?

What weekend chore can I do twice this week?

Do I have five dollars for my lunch and five for my friend?- Can I pray or offer spiritual strength?

If we are going to the movie, do we have room for another child or teenager?

This list is just something to get your creative mind working. You know what you can do, and you know how to help.

Remember the family members we spoke of who are in the myopic vortex of the here-and-now? Sooner or later they will come out of this time of life forever changed, not only because of the cancer, but because of you. They do not even need to know who you are or what you did. They will know and come to know of all of the kindness and love, and that memory will sustain and comfort them forever.

Cancer and The Myopic Vortex

By: Pat Holman




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