By Vernon Churchill
I”ve been married to the same wonderful wife 54 years. I have three daughters, one son, 10 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren. I”ve had no major medical, drug or alcohol problems with the kids growing up; all graduated high school, all are working. What more could one ask for. Life is good.
The first shoe falls ? a call from Mary Ina in Oregon … stage four ovarian cancer. Life is now on hold. My wife spends the next five and a half months with our daughter in Oregon, while she goes through chemo and surgery. I travel back and forth to Oregon and keep the hearing aid business in Clearlake on hold. My wife returns home. Life back to normal? No.
The second shoe falls. My wife”s 94-year-old mother falls and breaks her hip. She spends five months in a convalescent hospital and can no longer walk. Sherry and her husband, Lorenzo, take her in and are now her caretakers.
The third shoe falls. We find out, through blood tests, that three of our four children and myself carry a mutated gene called BRACA-1, inherited from my mother. I lost grandmother, mother, and one sister to cancer. Now we know why.
The fourth shoe falls. My wife and I feel like two draft horses pulling a full load. Our youngest daughter Becky, same thing, stage three ovarian cancer. More surgery, more chemo. Life is still on hold ? second year.
The fifth shoe falls. Both daughters have preventive double mastectomies. They were told it was not a matter of “if,” but “when” you will get breast cancer. How much more can you take? What will sustain you?
In June, grandaughter Brandy got married. Mary Ina, Mike and their son traveled down from Oregon for the wedding, and because they could not be here for Father”s Day, they presented me with a mahogany-framed Father”s Day greeting that Mary Ina composed:
FATHER IS AN ACRONYM FOR:
F ? Frowns that say it all without saying a word.
A ? Arms that carry small slumbering bodies off to bed.
T ? Tales spun straight off the top of a weary head.
H ? Hearts that ache and glow with every up and down.
E ? Ears that hear all that they need to hear.
R ? Roars that are far worse than any lions bite.
S ? Shoulders that perch wee ones up for a birds eye view.
Thanks! Now enjoy your Father”s Day.
So when I read it to the other kids, Sherry said, but dad, I wrote one too ? DAD. It stands for dad and dumb and dumber. The other kids liked both, but they liked Sherry”s DAD best.
So I answer my own question! With a family that loves you like that, and faith in God, you can take just about anything that life deals you.
If your family has a history of cancer, ask your doctor, no, demand that he has you get the blood test for the BRACA-1 and -2. It can save your life or the life of a member of your family, like it has ours. Keep the faith and cherish your family.
Vernon Churchill
Middletown
