Reflections from the Home Team,
February 23, 2014
"I've always believed life is
about embracing the gifts and rising up to meet the challenges. We’ve been
presented with another challenge, as I've recently been diagnosed with cancer.
My father left me with a saying that I've carried my entire life and tried to
pass on to our kids… Tough times don't last. Tough people do.”
-- Curt
Schilling
It's been a while since I've written a reflection... I wanted to wait until I reached a special milestone, that being my 5th Anniversary having been diagnosed with cancer. You may recall it was on my 55th birthday, 5 years ago, February 26, 2009 that I learned I had stage 3 throat cancer and was not sure what the future would hold for me at that time. Well, here we are, five years later and I am fortunate enough to be celebrating my 60th birthday. I've been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to feel the love and support of family, friends, students and staff. Some difficult times along the way...but many reasons for joy and celebration.
My next full check up is scheduled for March 20th in Iowa City and I’m hopeful for good news as I cross that 5 year Anniversary threshold. I’ll certainly keep you posted. As you know, I have dealt with some of the ups and downs of my journey through reading and writing my reflections. Those of you who are baseball fans may be aware that one of my heroes, Curt Schilling, former “hard nosed” pitcher for the Boston Red Sox has recently been diagnosed with cancer. His wife Shonda is also a cancer survivor having been diagnosed back in 2001.
Curt’s journey in the Major Leagues has been about “toughness”, one of the traits I have witnessed so many times from those who have battled this disease. That toughness has so often been demonstrated not only from a physical perspective, but also from a mental perspective. You may recognize the photos I’ve posted with this reflection from the 2004 American League Championship Series and the 2004 World Series. Curt displayed both physical and mental toughness in 2004 as he pitched in both series with his ankle tendon injury, and I’m confident will once again display the same toughness as he battles his cancer diagnosis. I’ve listed a brief summary of his 2004 pitching performance below:
The Red Sox Organization
stated on Oct. 13, 2004 that RHP Curt Schilling would need surgery on his right
ankle whenever the season ended. At that time, it was unknown if Schilling
would be able to pitch again during the postseason. But thanks to a
breakthrough medical procedure, the Red Sox medical staff sutured the loose
tendon on Schilling’s right ankle, keeping it in place well enough for
Schilling to be able to pitch effectively in Game 6 of the American League
Championship Series against the Yankees.
The sutures were removed
after Game 6, and then re-inserted the day before he pitched Game 2 of the
World Series against the Cardinals. With his tendon literally being held
together by thread, Schilling allowed a total of one earned run over 13 innings
in those final two starts of the postseason, both of which were wins.
As Curt says;"I've always believed life is
about embracing the gifts and rising up to meet the challenges. We’ve been
presented with another challenge, as I've recently been diagnosed with cancer.
My father left me with a saying that I've carried my entire life and tried to
pass on to our kids… Tough times don't last. Tough people do.”
My reading has also brought me to a Blog site known as “The Cure Baseball”. http://www.thecurebaseball.org/blog/
It’s a site dedicated to using baseball to raise the hopes, spirits, and awareness for people and families affected by cancer. “The Cure Baseball” is a nonprofit organization that strives to positively impact the lives of people and families who have been affected by cancer through a collegiate summer baseball team. Its founder, Alex Paluka lost his mother to Breast cancer as a young boy and he has used the organization to tie baseball and cancer together in a unique and personal way. I was especially touched by a blog entry entitled HOPE. Yet another way baseball has been used to provide strength and comfort to those battling cancer…
HOPE…. by “The Cure Baseball”
Hope has provided us with abilities that we may have never experienced without it. There have been days when we couldn’t find the strength to get out of bed, a situation in our lives had taken away some of our strength, passion and lust for life. But it’s always been hope and the possibility of a brighter future that has reinstated that strength, passion and lust for life in all of us. For people affected by cancer hope is sometimes all they have left to hang on to. The hope they’ll see their kids one more time, hope the doctors will deliver good news or simply hope that they just stop hurting. Hope is not something we can buy, fake or fabricate. Hope knows no boundaries, ages, genders or races. It’s free to everyone and always welcomes anyone who wishes to embrace it.
Hope allows us to feel free, to feel strong and to fight on. As tough a situation may be, hope finds a way to ease the pain. What money cannot buy, hope gladly provides. We see hope every day we live, whether it’s embedded in our own lives or we become a witness to it. Hope is simple; it’s never far from grasp, although sometimes it may seem like its miles away. Hope never turns away in the toughest of times; it’s always waiting with open arms. Hope can be sparked by anything, a color, a symbol or even a team.
Sometimes hope even seems to find us when we least expect it, when we’re at our worst, when we can’t even find the good in life. Hope lingers with the ones who embrace it. Hope allows us to hold on to it for as long as we want, it never pushes us away, and many times hope opens our eyes to the beauty of life. Hope can provide the key to success, the water to our fountain of youth and the strength to our battle.
So why do we lose hope? Do we get caught up in numbers, figures, odds or even someone else’s opinions? Do we stray away from what makes us smile, laugh and love? Do we simply lose hope by losing our way, our mission or our purpose? Hope never loses us, we always seem to lose it. It is always the best feeling in the world when we find hope again. But what if we never lose it? What if we hope no matter what, no matter how bleak the outcome looks or how backed into a corner we may feel? What if we hope for other people, what if our hope makes people find their own hope?
Just never stop HOPING!
To close, the words “toughness”
and “hope”
bring to mind what I have witnessed from many of those I have been fortunate
enough to meet and interact with during my 5 year journey with cancer and I offer
those words as words of encouragement for others facing a similar battle either
themselves or with loved ones. As we live out our lives embracing the gifts we
have been given, and rising up to meet the challenges we are faced with,
remember, “Tough times don't last, but tough people do… if we keep hoping!”
Be well!
Sincerely, Dave