Guts and Glory...

                     

Guts and Glory

Now, if you want to talk about intestinal fortitude, let me tell you a little more about Kerry’s dad (Red). Here is a guy who started flying before he became a teenager. At the age of 19, he not only enlisted into the RAF, he also was assigned a Hawker Hurricane and flew around Europe chasing the bad guys. Problem was, the bad guys were also chasing him. After being shot down in the south Pacific he ended up as a POW on the island of Java for the next 3 ½ years. (you can read about the day he got shot down on my Hunter Ink BLOG at  http://arizonacanadian.blogspot.com/p/read-4-free-wef-sampler.html) 

So, add up all of those dangerous, deadly experiences and throw in the near death experience he had just over a decade ago and you can see why this guy looks at his oncologist and says, “Don’t bother putting any icing on it. Just tell me what’s going on.” Red did not get any icing.

As his illness progresses, we will treat it as if it is our own cancer. After all, he is part of this family and when someone in the family hurts, we all hurt. When someone in the family dies, a part of us dies too. Don’t get me wrong. This posting isn’t about doom and gloom. Instead, it is to share a beautiful thing. Three months, a year or maybe even two, we will go through this together. 

Yes, he can be crabby at times. Did someone say hard headed? It has to be his way or the highway. Interesting thing is I am as hardheaded as he is and twice as stubborn. But together we seem to muddle through and I can tell you this, he is a lot braver than I am. I will try to learn from his example.