I have so much to be thankful for and I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. May your day be all you want it to be.

Best wishes always,

Ed

So funny ED ..I was thinking the same thing to ad a post to say happy Thanksgiving and all the things I am thankful for ...That is what tomorrow is for right ! ( See Ed Great Minds thinks Alike )

SO here goes .... I am thankful to be alive , and for my children and family and freinds.

I am Thankful to all my friends that I have made on here ... if it wasn't or you all I don't know where I would be .. I am thankful for the strength and courage you give me .

I am Thankful TO Brian Hill for founding this site, for all the help , support and education it has brought me and countless others , He is an amazing man , whom dosen't even truley realize Or take credit should I say for all that he is done ...I would like to say a very special thanks to him !!

I hope all of you have Happy Holiday and enjoy all you have to be Thankful for , I know somtimes we have to look hard to see it ..I know there are days I really need to open my eyes to see it !! But to you all I truley am THANKFUL !!

Shar

...and, Shar...I am thankful for YOU!


Lois & Buzz in NC

I'm thankful for another Thanksgiving with my Dad.

I'm thankful that if he has to have cancer that there is this site with all the wonderful people to offer advice and support.

Thank you Brian for all you do.

Thank you ALL and may each of you have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Hugs,

Joy

I am thankful to all my OCF buddies and of course to Brian for making that possible.

I am thankful that my wish four months ago that Bill would be able to enjoy a Thankgiving meal has come true. Two days after that, we celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary - we were married on Thankgiving day in 1977. I am thankful for my marriage -we are a pretty good pair.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you....Deb

I am thankful to be able to spend Thanksgiving with my family. I am thankful for all of the friends I have made here and for all of your support.

I am thankful that God spared me to do His work.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Billy

Not to ruin the buzz, so to speak, but on this day in 2003 I went with Susan to Detroit to visit her family. It was a very cold, snowy and ending up icy few days. I hate the cold. I hadn't really eaten a good whole meal for many weeks and I took nearly an hour to chew and try and swallow the great Thanksgiving dinner. It is still a bit fuzzy but I distinctly remember how hard everyone was trying to smile and include me in everything (even passing those horrible dry, scratchy bowl of nuts over and over and over...you get the picture). But as our eyes met I was so taken aback because of the tears welling up in everyone's eyes as they looked at me. I am actually fighting back the tears now telling this because I those looks of total fear are so vivid to this day. As I marveled at how good it was to eat such great food, I had to run to the bathroom and watch all that food that looked so good on the plate...well you get the picture.

I want all of you to know that even that morning when I woke up, I distinctly rememember how thankful I was from just the simple fact that my eyes opened. Every day I started with a smile because my eyes opened. I never knew for months when I went to bed if that would happen. I silently prayed the old childhood prayer most of us know by heart,...

"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."

That is what got me through all the fears of going to sleep at night and gave me some pretty decent sound sleeping nights.

Without all of you and many who aren't with us this Thanksgiving, I am not sure I would have made it through the darkest of those days. As one of my heros (Brian, of course) has often reminded me, I am on this side of the grass! When it comes down to it, I probably could have made it without all of my friends here but like my faith, I am thankful that I didn't have to find out what it would have been like without both.

Thank you all and be sure and spend a moment today with kind thoughts (and prayers if you are so inclined) for those that we knew who couldn't be with us this Thanksgiving. I would list them by name but I fear I would miss one or the list would be so long that someone could become discouraged.

Live each day to make it the best day it can possibly be!

Ed

Very nicely said Ed and having met you and your lovely wife Susan I can picture it!

I am thankful that I have survived 5 years to this very day from my initial diagnosis (after being told to "get my affairs in order" and that "...I might not live another 6 months".

I actually still use the last day of treatment as my "official" anniversary.

I am eating some of those scratchy nuts as I write this and I am thankful that I can do that again as well.

There is hope and there is life after cancer.

Gary ,


Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Anniversary !! Some how I am seeing some Irony in that ! but in a GOOD WAY !

Ed,

It is so great that you started this thread so that we have a chance express our feelings and to say thanks to those that make this forum such a great place for support and friendship.

This is my third Thanksgiving since my diagnosis and like everyone else, I wondered if I would ever get to celebrate this great holiday again. Today I spent the day with my 2 children, 4 grandkids and extended family. It truly is a blessing to be able to do that and we so often just take these things for granted.

I hope that everyone had a good holiday and thanks to all for being here and sharing your love, knowledge and caring with everyone.

Jerry

I am so very thankful to Brian and Gary and everyone else on this forum and I am so touched by the emotions and compassion expressed here. THis Thanksgiving has been, for me, the very best ever! I spent it with my son, Paul and his girlfriend and family and friends. It was great sharing a meal and experiences and being able to laugh until the tears came and seeing my son so happy. Without OCF I don't know where we would be and I am reminded every day of the wonderful people here who helped us get thru those difficult days. When I drive along a road that led to the hospital and radiation treatments or past the drugstore where I used to pick up prescriptions or at the grocery store to find broth or soups or Boost, I am reminded of OCF and the friends here that gave me a " boost" and virtually held my hand and gave me the strength to keep going. You have all helped me to appreciate the importance of the "Now" moments and the blessings that come our way.

Brian, thank you so-o-o-o-o much for creating this forum for us, and for all that you do. You are truly awesome!

Ed, thank you for starting this thread to let me have a chance to express my heartfelt gratitude to those (my family, friends, medical professionals) who helped me go through the miseries and hurdles during my battle, without whom I am sure I would not be able to share my feelings right here. Although I have not visited the forum as frequently as before, I always have friends I met here before on my mind and my hat's off to Brian, who has founded such a wonderful forum for people sitting on the same boat to lend a hand and shoulders to one another at times of adversity. The rainbow that appears after the thunderstorm is really beautiful and it is my sincere and genuine wish that all friends who are fighting the disease now are able to see their rainbow soon.

Karen

As I am reading this thread today, I suddenly realized this is the 10th anniversary of my last radiation treatment. How happy I was. Over at last. No more getting up at 7:00 am to get strapped to a table at 8:30. I slept in as usual. I had arranged this early am schedule so I could continue to work during radiation. Day 9, I went down for the count.

My sister had come up on Thanksgiving with bag of groceries of things she hoped I could eat, most of which were off the menu for another two months, but she tried. Her new boyfriend was taking her to a fine French restaurant, she would order her usual salmon, no sauce (could we swap places please? I think I could find food I can eat). My Thanksgving meal that year was coffee and butter pecan Ensure Plus.

There was no oral cancer foundation to get me through this. I had never even heard of oral cancer before I was diagnosed. I had no idea I was supposed to sick for several weeks after radiation nor did anyone tell me this. My doctors were very positive that that they gotten it under control so I let them worry about a reoccurence rather than me. I was seeing them so often that if there was problem, it would be caught early.

Yes I hit another bump in the road 4 years out which cost me my voice box and am now a total laryngectomee but that didn't alter my life very much. Actually it allowed me to eat more.

I want to thank Brian for this marlvelous web site. Having gone though this twice without any kind of support, I truly know how important this site is to others which is precisely why he founded it.

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgving. Chin up, you can do this.

Take care,
Eileen

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday, I know I have lots to be thankful for! Carol