We get
by with a little help from our friends….
Joe Cocker
died today at the age of 70, having succumbed to Small Cell Lung Cancer. His rendition
of “With a Little Help from my Friends” at Woodstock in 1969, is my all-time favorite.
The passion he had while singing always amazed me, his moves always made me
smile. The loss of his voice and talent is tremendous. The loss of his life to
Cancer is horrible. The loss of his life to LUNG CANCER hits home with me, as I
too have Lung Cancer. Mine is Non-Small Cell Adenocarcinoma Stage 3A.
What makes me even sadder is that Joe Cocker’s
death seems to have become a way for people to publicly blame the patient for the disease, based on comments I am
reading. This just makes me so sad. Over
the past 3 years, I have learned that this is nothing new in the Cancer world…..this
is nothing new in the regular world….I have yet to attend a Cancer Patient
meeting/event where I have not heard this from other patients. I have yet to
hear another patient or person blame a different type of Cancer patient for
their disease. Nobody blames a Breast Cancer patient, nobody blames a Stomach
Cancer patient etc. I am not trying to sound mean; I am just sad, angry and fed
up. Nobody provides support; there are “no paint the town a color” months for
us. Yet people feel inclined to point
out to Lung Cancer patients that ‘I bet you smoked’….the sad thing is in the
past 2 years, I have held the hands of 2 dying friends, one who had Small Cell
Lung Cancer and never smoked and one who had Small Cell Lung Cancer and did
smoke, yet also worked as a mechanic and was exposed to numerous
carcinogens. We talked about the
misconceptions, the blame game, the overall sadness and despair felt by Lung
Cancer patients, the lack of support, the need to become each other’s support,
the moments when one or more of us felt like ending it before it ended us. I
sit here typing this, as the sole survivor of these conversations…. I am in
Remission/Chemopause, I need to hit 5 years to see if I survive.
Here are
some facts from the American Lung Cancer Association:
·
Lung cancer is the leading
cancer killer in both men and women in the United States. In 1987, it surpassed
breast cancer to become the leading cause of cancer deaths in women.
·
The lung cancer five-year survival rate (17.8%) is lower than many
other leading cancer sites, such as the colon (65.4%), breast (90.5%) and
prostate (99.6%).
·
The five-year survival rate for lung cancer is 54.0 percent for
cases detected when the disease is still localized (within the lungs). However,
only 15 percent of lung cancer cases are diagnosed at an early stage. For
distant tumors (spread to other organs) the five-year survival rate is only 4.0
percent.
·
Over half of people with lung cancer die within one year of being
diagnosed.
Surprisingly, Pot Smokers are not getting Lung Cancer at the same rate as others.
“Like tobacco smoke, marijuana smoke contains cancer-causing chemicals.
There are 33
cancer-causing chemicals contained in marijuana. Marijuana smoke also deposits
tar into the lungs.”
(American Lung Cancer Association)
Let’s ponder that for a moment….ok, pondered it, guess Inappropriate
Happiness isn't all bad.
Sigh…..ok I have said what I feel needed to be said, I speak
from the heart, always have….. I hope people listen….
Today, December 22, 2014, Joe Cocker, a musical legend has
been lost, his voiced silenced. My
sympathies to his family and millions of fans. May he rest in Peace…..
Love
Lifts Us Up
Who knows what tomorrow
brings
In a world, few hearts survive
All I know is the way I feel
When it's real, I keep it alive
The road is long, there are mountains in our way
But we climb a step every day
Love lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles cry on a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
Far from the world we know, up where the clear winds blow
In a world, few hearts survive
All I know is the way I feel
When it's real, I keep it alive
The road is long, there are mountains in our way
But we climb a step every day
Love lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles cry on a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
Far from the world we know, up where the clear winds blow
Some hang on to
"used to be"
Live their lives, looking behind
All we have is here and now
All our life, out there to find
The road is long, there are mountains in our way,
But we climb them a step every day…….
Live their lives, looking behind
All we have is here and now
All our life, out there to find
The road is long, there are mountains in our way,
But we climb them a step every day…….
Love
Rebecca
