Journey

In this weeks blog I have nothing positive to say.  Normally I am a glass half full person.  Not today.  As I type my eyes are swollen and the tears flow freely.  I feel an equal mix of sadness and anger.  Last night cancer claimed the life of a cool young man with a zest for life leaving his family devastated.  He will be forever 21.  Yesterday we also heard the news that someone in our community, who gives so much and we hold in very high regard, is battling cancer for a second time in only a handful of years.  I hate cancer.  It is an insidious disease.  After it has entered your life it is never finished with you.  It continues to take until there is little left.  It has robbed Rory of normality, of the potential of what his life could have been.  I look at him some days and I can’t bear to see our 20 year old son, bald, deaf, slow, walking hunched over with a walker, dependent on medication and support care around the clock.  There is no fairness in any of it.  Cancer knocks good people down.  We all try hard to get back up, but for some the only release is death.  Our hearts go out today to those who are enduring treatment and those whose hearts are breaking with loss.  Fuck cancer. 

Last weekend we had a short walk along the Viaduct track at Manawapou.  We took Rory with us.  It was a good reminder for him of what our adventures are like; exploring unknown rough ground, showery weather and cows (and a tonne of poo).  He enjoyed it but it is a challenge for him, and us, to do even a fraction of what he could three years ago.  Sean spent a couple of days away for work so I was on duty.  On Wednesday he helped Colt’s cohort at IPS with Beach education.  Wetsuits meant they lasted the longest in the sea.  As WITT is finished for the year Rory and Tash have picked up an extra shift at the Junction on a Wednesday morning.  They are also helping me with the Christmas shopping.  He currently has pain and an infection in his big toe which is bothering him and making walking more of a challenge.  I received a letter in the mail from ACC saying Rory’s third treatment injury claim has been accepted.  The degree of hearing loss he has experienced is not an ordinary consequence of treatment.  I hope this will result in greater support going forward.