In the Presence of Real Courage

Courage and Cat Videos

Courage and Cat Videos

In my travels back to Phoenix this past year I stood in the presence of real courage.  Not the “I have the courage to ask for a raise”, or “I have the courage to try a new hair style”, I mean the epitome of the word courage.

While in town I have been helping out a friend and her husband.  Her husband has stage four glioblastoma multiforme which is normally a cancer found in the brain; his was located in the spine.  Only .01 percent of people get this type of cancer in that location and it is deadly.  Hearing the news, he replied, “Let’s get this fight started, Bubba”, and with that attitude, made everyone around him cheer him on with belief and laughter.

This is a man who has fought his whole life to LIVE, from being abused by his father and abandoned as a young boy to fighting and being shot in the Agent Orange fields of Vietnam.  While working a 30 year career as a firefighter, he turned his car into an out-of-control driver and took the hit on his side to keep his wife and small child from being hurt, this lead to a broken pelvis and other injuries.  They said he wouldn’t walk again, but he did walk out of that hospital and returned to the fire department, because he chose to LIVE.

And now the fight is directed toward miniscule cancer cells that spread within his spine. After 17 months of chemo, his choices have become less and less and after many heartfelt discussions, this man decided once again to keep on fighting and chose to have the cancer cut out of his spinal cord.  That decision means his spine will forever be severed.

He starts a new journey, in a new body, for as long as he can fight this fight.  Learning to live without his legs, as many have done, but knowing all the while he made the choice, the choice to LIVE.

As I listen to the news and see our young take the lives of each other or view the entitlement so many expect or hear the continual ranting from each political party, I want to just scream and say:

YOU HAVE THE CHOICE TO WORK TODAY

YOU HAVE THE CHOICE TO LOVE TODAY

YOU HAVE THE CHOICE TO BE FREE TODAY

YOU HAVE THE CHOICE TO BE KIND TODAY

YOU HAVE THE CHOICE TO BE GRATEFUL TODAY

AND

YOU HAVE THE CHOICE TO WATCH CAT VIDEOS OR NOT

So…Use your choices wisely,  BEFORE they are no longer YOUR choices.

Grateful for you,

Sheree


7 thoughts on “In the Presence of Real Courage

  1. Thank you for lifting up your friend’s positive attitude to live during a time in his life when most people would throw in the towel. A man of true courage. I’m thankful he has family and friends who respect and value his life to encourage him to keep going. What a wonderful lesson for all of us, on so many levels.

  2. Thanks for the story of real courage…you tell it so well. There is always something to be grateful for and Someone to be grateful to….His grace is abundant and amazing. God bless you and all the lives you touch….truly a ripple effect!

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