Medical News

Filed under: Breast Cancer, Celebrity news, Cancer Survivors

I wrote recently about The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the inner strength she says she acquired from helping care for her mother during a battle with breast cancer. I ended my post with this statement:

It seems a common thread — the fact that cancer makes us all stronger in one way or another. It’s one of the silver linings, I think. Cancer can be a gift. We just have to regard it as one and look hard for its hidden treasures.

Two readers have since left comments indicating I must be crazy for thinking of cancer as a gift. One reader wrote: I’m certainly glad that Elisabeth was able to take something positive away from her mother’s bout with breast cancer, but I’m not sure that I can buy into the “gift” part.

Another reader had this to say: . . . By the way, Rosie (O’Donnell) lost her mother when she was only 10, to breast cancer, I’m sure she didn’t find it a gift . . .

Of course Rosie doesn’t think of her mother’s death from cancer as a gift. It’s not cancer or death that I regard as a gift. In no way do I consider my own breast cancer a gift. But there are a few treasures I’ve dug up along my travels with this disease. My writing career, my pursuit of a healthy diet and regular exercise, my desire to reach others struggling in life, my all-out appreciation for family and friends — these are the gifts. Even though cancer may one day take my life, I still will have received these gifts.

Surely, each of us can find something worthwhile that flows from cancer — like better awareness, a voice we can share, a wake-up call, something. It may not be obvious at first. It may take years to find. But some day, in some way, a gift will appear. Well, that’s my opinion anyway.

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Original post by Jacki Donaldson

Filed under: Breast Cancer, Celebrity news, Cancer Survivors

I wrote recently about The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the inner strength she says she acquired from helping care for her mother during a battle with breast cancer. I ended my post with this statement:

It seems a common thread — the fact that cancer makes us all stronger in one way or another. It’s one of the silver linings, I think. Cancer can be a gift. We just have to regard it as one and look hard for its hidden treasures.

Two readers have since left comments indicating I must be crazy for thinking of cancer as a gift. One reader wrote: I’m certainly glad that Elisabeth was able to take something positive away from her mother’s bout with breast cancer, but I’m not sure that I can buy into the “gift” part.

Another reader had this to say: . . . By the way, Rosie (O’Donnell) lost her mother when she was only 10, to breast cancer, I’m sure she didn’t find it a gift . . .

Of course Rosie doesn’t think of her mother’s death from cancer as a gift. It’s not cancer or death that I regard as a gift. In no way do I consider my own breast cancer a gift. But there are a few treasures I’ve dug up along my travels with this disease. My writing career, my pursuit of a healthy diet and regular exercise, my desire to reach others struggling in life, my all-out appreciation for family and friends — these are the gifts. Even though cancer may one day take my life, I still will have received these gifts.

Surely, each of us can find something worthwhile that flows from cancer — like better awareness, a voice we can share, a wake-up call, something. It may not be obvious at first. It may take years to find. But some day, in some way, a gift will appear. Well, that’s my opinion anyway.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Original post by Jacki Donaldson