I attended a funeral today. The husband of a friend, the father of a former student. I heard stories of a great man; a friend, a jokester, and someone who valued making meaningful connections to the people in his life. His brother said, "If you were going to be a part of Augie's life, he wanted to understand what you were all about."
Taken entirely too soon by cancer, I watched as his young daughter sobbed into her mother's shoulder. Cancer is ruthless, it takes no prisoners.
With no action, there is an 87% chance that cancer will invade my body. It could be my children sitting there in the service, crying on Kimberly. By taking action, I can reduce that particular risk to less than 1%. Worth it? Hell yes.
Sure, none of us are promised any tomorrows. Each day is a gift to be cherished. Might I still get some other form of cancer? It's possible. Could I get in a car accident on my way to work tomorrow? It happens all of the time. There are so many things that are our of our control. In so many ways, the whole idea of control truly is a farce, I'm starting to realize.
Plato said that courage is knowing what not to fear. I'm not afraid of this surgery, and I'm really not afraid of cancer. What terrifies me is the thought of living a life without connections. There's nothing more amazing than sharing a moment with another soul, when you can look in their eyes and see into their heart and feel their eyes on your own.
Why am I choosing these drastic preventative measures? Because my wife, two beautiful daughters, and unborn baby are worth it. The people with whom I'm blessed enough to share those essential, meaningful connections are worth it.
It really is time for the selfishness to end. I can live ten thousand more days in my life without my natural breasts, but I don't think I can live another day without knowing YOU better.
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