Not a bad idea Bud. It seems to me that as we get older, our exposure to people who are having to deal with cancer and other serious conditions increases.
When I was younger I had no real exposure. My granfather died instantly aged 60 when the alarm went off for an early shift on the railway. But I was only seven, so sheltered from the pain.
The sobering thing is that I'm 60 in a month, but haven't had the harsh working life that he had.
MrsW's parents suffered disturbing deaths, her father with emphesema from the steelworks, which resulted in disability at 55 but which lasted 20 years. Meanwhile he had to watch his wife die from throat cancer at 66.
At work there are now significant numbers of staff with cancer. Three women with breast cancer, two men with bowel cancer, and a couple more with cancer for which I don't have the details. Some have teenage children, these are people in late 40's and early 50's. And so it goes on. Over the years we've lost several friends to this, but also seen some amazing survivors.
A man at work in his early 40's suddenly got pins & needles in his arms and legs one friday lunchtime. He went up to casualty at the Hallamshire in Sheffield. He had a brain tumour the size of a grapefruit, which turned out to be non-malignant. We went up to see him the day after his operation expecting the worst, and he was sitting up in bed reading a book. The stapled repair in the side of his head was the size of a cricket ball. They couldn't get it all out due to where it had grown, but five years on he's doing fine. He was always a bit odd, and a vegetarian, but post-op he became a meat eater.
MrsW and I have resolved to enjoy life while we can, including as many holidays as we can muster, because Life really is too short.
