Life Exists Outside of Cancer

Mikey’s Nuggets of Wisdom

“There is a pressing importance to remind pediatric cancer patients that life exists outside of cancer.” Mikey’s journal entries contain hundreds of nuggets of wisdom like this.

Mikey’s insight was reflected in the way that he lived and the words that he wrote. Crafted with the skill of a master many years beyond his age, Mikey’s expressive writings offer both a philosophical perspective and a unique glimpse into the world of a pediatric cancer patient.

Mikey Knew That Life Exists Outside of Cancer

Above all, Mikey knew how to live with cancer and how to live outside of cancer. Indeed, his words and his selfless Mikey’s Way gifts illustrate his keen desire to help other children see that life still exists outside of cancer. He wanted them to be just kids again, even if for only one, short moment.

Herein Contained: A Cure for Cancer

Mikey’s piece entitled “Herein Contained: A Cure for Cancer”not only addresses his personal experience with cancer but also speaks to the importance of living life outside of cancer. In fact, it was a conversation with his doctor that inspired Mikey to write the following piece.

“You know, Michael” he began in his soft, quieting voice, “there are people who leave this hospital and are never cured.” I trembled, and my universe disquieted. “They live the rest of their lives always thinking the cancer will come back, always sure that any pain or irregularity is recurrent cancer. “I nodded my head obediently. Whether or not I fully understood I didn’t want to examine his claim any further. It can be difficult, sitting there in that chair, legs dangling over the rustle of that ominous butcher paper, like meat ready to be cured. In this same room you receive the best and the worst information of your life. It is the place you hear, “we didn’t get the best results from your scans,” or the place you hear, “The chemo is working better than we could have ever hoped for.” Such innate duality exists there. You are either elated with joy, or subject to unpleasant, painful points pounding away at you, until you are too tender to attest, like meat being cured.

Cured Does Not Mean Disease Free

“Only later would I fully digest what my doctor had told me. Cured does not mean disease free. If you live your life in fear of cancer, you have succumbed to the disease. Fear is a distraction, diverting your attention from the true beauty of life. The small things. Life’s beauty dwells in the rush of adrenaline, it floats on the new-fallen snow, plotting a noiseless descent, ready to provide its clean blanket for all who’ll receive it. It hides quietly in life’s obscure possibilities, those things we take for granted: I never before hoped I could be an uncle to my brother’s children. It waits; it will not find. Find it, and then be free of life’s only true ailment. If you are not free to live, you have not been cured. You have not survived. You are dead.”

Live Life by This Advice

“And so, I have tried to live my life by this advice and spread it like the anti-cancer to all I meet.  The cure is contagious, like a smile, nay, it is a smile. Walking down the hall of a cancer ward, I see myself in every bald, pale child; in every lonely pair of disheartened eyes; and in every breathing statistic. I approach a child, bearing a cart overflowing with gifts, and a nurse whispers in my ear, “I haven’t seen him smile like that in months.” The cure has metastasized.”

“There is a pressing importance to remind pediatric cancer patients that life exists outside of cancer. It can be easy to forget this when you have spent five weeks in a hospital room, or when you have been in treatment for three years. And for a moment, the cancer patients are just kids again, even if for only one, short moment. As I sit here writing this, I am not done with treatment. I have many rounds of chemo before me. But I am cured. “

Michael Friedman