I think Gary has it right that living in the "now" is a choice that each of us has to make every single day.

When Jack went for his last chemo on Wednesday we found we were literally across the hall from a friend of ours who had been admitted to the inpatient unit and was dying after an 18 month bout with another type of cancer. We spent the day visiting with our friend and his family while Jack's chemo was running. We laughed, we cried, we rolled the IV pole everywhere, we told funny stories of when our children were growing up and when our sons shared an apartment in Boston - and somewhere during that very strange day we said goodbye to our fear as well as our friend.

He died peacefully that night surrounded by love and good wishes. Today at his funeral we all gave him a standing ovation for ignoring the odds and never giving up. He really did beat his cancer because he never allowed it change him.

Perhaps it's not about how we live with cancer but how we live period.

The statistics are meaningless and the hell with them. We have the time that we have, let's make the most of it.

Regards JoAnne