Run, Pegleg, RUN!

When you learn someone you love has cancer, or maybe it’s you, it’s daunting.  It’s complicated.  It’s scary.  And really sad.

I would never have found Gilda’s Club on my own.  I would never have found a group.  I’d have talked a lot about my anxiety to everyone who’d listen, though.  Like at the bar where I’d be drinking too much.

My lovely wife Juno who knows me so well knew all this.  And she also knew the struggle I was having with the spectrum of feelings I had about my Mom’s cancer.  I think she knew I was sad, too, but sad was not the feeling I’d show.  Stress maybe.  Anger probably.

She found Gilda’s.

But I still would never go.  I worked from home, why would I leave for help?  Leaving home only adds stress to my life.  I could deal/not deal with cancer from my cozy home.

Unless Gilda’s Club was right up the street.

And I’d still not have gone.  Poor, making art and no steady job, I would not pay for help.  No way I’d pay to deal with my feeling since I was dealing with it all head on.  In my head.  At home.

Gilda’s Club is Free.

No risk, no loss – except maybe an hour – if I go.

I went.  And Thank You – Gilda, Juno, Mom, God? – I went.  It was true, there was no loss.  Only gain.  Only positive life, support in a world with cancer.

Gilda’s Club taught me how to Live in a World With Cancer.

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If you or someone you love is touched by cancer, I cannot recommend Gilda’s Club strongly enough.  Gilda’s Club New York City’s website is here.  Or if you are not in New York City, here’s Gilda’s Club Worldwide.  There might be a clubhouse near you.