On a blog reading spree, I often come across beautiful musings on new blogs... On one such blog, I came across the 'Pink for October' symbol and a link to the site for breast cancer awareness month. October is long gone, but I loved the spirit of this site, and see this as a minuscule effort, but effort all the same, to spread a word about cancer awareness.
Last year, we lost a dear cousin of mine to lung cancer. I was there at the hospital for the last 3-4 days before his death and things were bad, to say the least. Seeing death approach is always traumatic, and it was especially so for the boy was so young and so full of life in his better days.
A few months back, a friend's mother also went thru breast cancer surgery. The prognosis was luckily very good in her case and she is hale and hearty and on a recovering spree. Touch wood.
So you see, cancer can even touch someone you know. And once it has, it will definitely change your take on life and death.
I perceive personal vigilance about health care to be the best preventive measure, not just for cancer, but for any other mis-fortune. Many a times, we are reckless about our being. We care about others, but we neglect to pamper ourselves. A visit to the doctor for that persistent cold or cough is forever posponed...
An acquaintance of mine in college once told me a beautiful thing. She said if you are in love with someone, you will begin to take more care of yourself. It sounded so unusual, but as I pondered over her words, I indeed found depth to her observation.
We all love and are loved. For our sake and theirs, we need to take our health more seriously.
-Gauri Gharpure
