The Coward Cancer – @SU2C
Okay, first things first. Because I can’t count…
Please tune in tomorrow, Friday, on ABC, CBS, Fox & NBC to the live broadcast of Stand Up to Cancer at 8pm PST/EST & 7PM CT. I will be sitting in a seat amongst all those A-list celebrities wondering how I got there and wishing I could tell my father I did something for him.
But let me also tell you why I’m standing up…
It was September 11th, 2005, when I got the call.
I could feel his heavy breathing in the background and desperately wanted to cradle him, as he had done for me so many times. The conversation went on. It meant rearranging my life so I could hop on a plane right then.
I’d avoided the ingress of that moment for so long. I couldn’t escape it anymore. Instead of thinking about how much closer he was getting to the end, I devoted myself to tackling a lengthy personal battle of my own. It almost overshadowed my sense impending loss, but the grim reaper had decided that Massachusetts would be the venue for this double overtime period over my father’s final score.
I have a hard time keeping track of the exact year of he departed because pain seems to bind moments together. Losing three people in three years to the Coward “C” feels like a ticking clock inside my head that struck twelve and has yet to move.
In just six days, it will have been seven years. He died at 2:43am. And I watched him go. Helpless.
As you can see, I’m growing my beard out in honor of my bearded pops. He got very Walt Whitman-ish towards the end.
So, here’s the part where I implore you to do something alongside me. I need you as my comrade arms. There’s a semi-silent genocide happening on our planet. Our enemy in this is a disease.
In a partnership with StandUpToCancer, we’ve decided to suit up and help out.
Losing a loved one to a prolonged battle like cancer is a unique leeching process. First, any youthfulness is stripped. Then, energy. Followed by making future plans. And ultimately, hope is stolen…
Let’s stop this maligned dictator in its tracks:
1. Watch tomorrow night and spread the word.
2. Go to their site and help however you can: CLICK HERE
3. Tweet, Facebook and every other techie thing you can for this charity. It gives 100% of its funds to charity. Use the hashtag #IStandUpFor.
⬇ Use the sharebar below and get the word out about this important event and cause! ⬇
19 Comments
19 Responses to “The Coward Cancer – @SU2C”
First – I’m sorry for your loss. It sounds trite, but I am truly sorry for you, for your family, for Finn.
Second – Thank you for writing this and for standing up. We’ve all got our Cancer stories – loss, survival, friends, family. Mine started with an aunt when I was about 7 but affected me most profoundly when one of my best friends succumbed to her cancer one week before I turned 14. I watched the cancer process closely for the first time as she was first fighting and then fading. No one should have to watch that happen to anyone of any age. No one should have to experience it themselves.
Going to tweet and tag and share and post and stuff now. Thank you again.
Thank you for your help, Amy.
This truly is a silent genocide. 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer.
Enough is enough.
I wouldn’t imagine myself doing anything other than Standing Up against this dastardly coward tomorrow evening.
It’s remarkable how speechless such a silent beast can render those of us who have or are currently fighting the good fight against it. As progressive and sneaky the disease can riddle and plague ourselves or our loved ones, with that matched determination we need to make the ruckus that rocks the universe to rid it from our landscape.
We have always been avid supporters of SU2C, even before a parent and an uncle were diagnosed, and will continue to make noise with you lovely gentleman. We are all so connected by something so grossly unwelcome.
Love. To your camp from ours. xoxo.
What an apt description of what it’s like to watch someone you love fight a losing battle against the evil C. My family is going through it now with our beloved mom. It’s the worst experience in the world, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
Thanks for the tip – we’ll be watching, sharing, giving as much as we can.
Right there with you, buddy.
You bet I’ll be standing up to cancer! Unfortunately I’ve had to directly stand up to it these last 6 months. I hate cancer. It took my grandparents and affected me this last year with my thyroid cancer. I feel lucky so far that I’m doing fairly well but it has stolen my healthy self and a good bit of my energy. I plan on getting that back!! We just seem to be surrounded by cancer and you never think it will happen to you….until it does:-( It needs to stop and we need to make changes to and find cures to rid everyone of this horrible disease. Thanks for helping spread awareness.
I didn’t know this Charlie. But we have very similar stories. I’m sorry about your dad. Cancer can suck a dick.
I am so sorry you lost your dad to this awful disease. I hate cancer. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in January of 2009. Although thyroid cancer is often thought of as “the cancer you want to have,” if you do indeed ever get cancer, it’s still awful. Just hearing that ugly word. I had a complete thyroidectomy March 18, 2009, and have since been cancer free. I will stand up with you tomorrow, and everyday, to this dreadful disease. Because you’re right. Cancer needs a serious ass kicking!
Cancer sucks! I am SO SO sorry for your loss..
I hate that it is so very present in my family as well..I want it to disappear.
Someone in my family once told me: “This bastard is not gonna win. I’ll kill him with me if I have to…”
The thing is he did kill the bastard… but died in the process. And we cannot win the fight like that – 1on1.
I’m with you!
STAND UP TO CANCER!
I wish I didn’t know how you feel…it’s been one year since I lost my father…and I wish I could say more than “I’m sorry for your loss”
My mom got cancer when I was in sixth grade, then it came back again in eighth. It was the eighties when we hit everything with maximum strength radiation and chemo, and she went through it twice. I remember wishing she would just be my mom, and now that I’m near the same age she was when she got sick and my daughter is near the same age I was when she got sick, my heart breaks for how angry I was with her, and with life.
There is a good part to this story — she is still alive. I’m so sorry for your loss, Charlie, your multiple losses, but something about having my mom get sick when I was so young made me positive it’s not if but when I will get cancer. To some extent, I’ve been steeled for it since I was ten. I wait to find it, and I wait to beat it. Early detection combined with swift treatment sometimes helps — not always, but there is hope. My wish for anyone reading this comment is that they will take their bodies seriously, take any abnormality seriously — not to create ghosts where there are none but to know when something’s gone off the rails before it gets too far. My mom is alive because she found a bump on her shin and had it checked out. It turned out to be incredibly rare hystiosarcoma — cancer of the soft tissue. I force my husband to the doctor to make sure he is checked out every year.
Thanks for doing this, Charlie. You look just like your pa.
YES, THIS! We found out about our son’s cancer because of a low grade fever and random aches. I felt stupid taking him into the doctor, thinking it was anemia or him trying to get out of school. Thank goodness I took him in when I did!!
Thank you for doing this. SU2C holds a special place in my heart. Big hugs to you.
I’m so sorry about your father. Cancer is complete and total bullshit!
Strangely, it wasn’t even on my radar before Jack was diagnosed. Now we are standing up to cancer every day over here. I would love to see that shit obliterated!
Sorry to read about your dad…I’m glad you’re fighting back.
How beautifully put, Charlie. Cancer steals from so many – you have suffered an enormous loss as have your siblings. Your son has lost the opportunity for a relationship with an amazing man who would have had an unmeasurable effect on his life. I for one lost a dear friend, a person who connected with my past and my heart, a confidant and the reason to find a smile through some dark years. Cancer causes pain like no other pain – not only for the person fighting the beast, but for all those touched by that person. That pain never goes away – we just get used to it. Keep fighting. Much love to you and your family. Judy
Thank you for being a part of this great cause and getting the word out.
In a matter of 3 months, I went from thinking I had a sturdy family health history, to having my father die of cancer, my mother getting cancer & my aunt confessing that she was living with a terminal cancer.
Cancer is an asshole, and I’m all about standing up to it.
I’m sorry about your dad, but I bet he’d be damn proud of his boy.
I don’t live in the US, so it won’t accept my credit card. But I will donate to my own countries cancer group.
As a cancer patient myself, thank you for bringing awareness to all your readers.