What Cancer Cannot Do...

This is my dear husband, Jud, who climbed Little Devil's Tower, in the the Black Hills last week.

Several days later, he climbed to the top of this cliff...

...then took a long hike along beautiful Sand Creek just over the Wyoming border. 

Most of you know that Jud was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer last November. Throughout our marriage, I have been the wimpy one! I could count the times Jud has been sick on one hand. We were shocked at his diagnosis. Jud has been active, social, and involved in a million activities. Even now, he  can still wear me out! 

Jud had a Pet Scan yesterday and we got the results today. We knew from the last Scan that the cancer had spread to his liver, resulting in five lesions. Today three of those were gone.  The not good news was that another tumor appeared. Pancreatic Cancer is tricky, in that it can mutate and create genetically new types of tumors. In essence, there isn't one Pancreatic Cancer but several kinds in one person. At this point, cancer researchers and oncologists do not have a way of knowing exactly how to treat these mutations. 

Jud has been through a new type of radiation and many types of chemotherapy in this nine months. His doctor's decision was to keep him on the current one for two more months. If it is still not working, Jud will be trying one of two experimental treatments, one that attempts to interfere with this DNA change at the Mayo Clinic or a new cancer vaccine at John's Hopkins.

We still hold on to Hope. This is a bracelet that our family and friends wear in support of Jud. The other bracelet is for our friend, Iver, who has had Multiple Myeloma for five years. We hold him in Hope, as well. 

I googled this quote that I have seen on many a blanket and tee-shirt over the last several years. I must admit, I have found it a little "schmaltzy" in years past. Today it spoke to me...

Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Spirit.

This is my dear Jud and I, going to a Park Nicollet Hospital benefit a month before his diagnosis. We have a very special relationship. This month, we celebrate our thirty-eighth year of marriage and will spend our anniversary in Quebec City and Montreal, places we have wanted to visit for a long, long time. Jud is a very special person. He keeps plugging away each day, doing whatever he can to be helpful, being kind and loving to all his friends and family and rarely complaining about his lot. No, he's not a saint, but he is honestly one very fine person. 

Cancer has not crippled our love. It has not corroded our faith. It has not shattered our hope. If anything, it has made us stronger. 

Cancer is so limited.