Dear Cancer,

I have learned a lot from you.

I am not going to say that I hate you. Like any other crippling disease, you are doing your job. Destroying beautiful people, distant memories, and future endeavors.

You are more than a word, even more than a diagnosis. You are as real as the evil which seeps its way into our beautiful planet. You are the purest form of tribulation.

I sometimes think of you in the way a child thinks of a bully: selfish, dishonest, and aggressive. Although I’d like to think not, you are more than these things. You can manifest yourself into the lives of everyday people -- ruining relationships, economic situations, and untimitely creating what some view as failure.

My feelings towards you can be described in many ways, but the only word that can come to mind is a numbing sensation. You have that effect on the people that you control. Washing away the characteristics of what once was, and coating it in the harsh truth of reality. I can only imagine the emotions felt as you watch the first strand of hair slide slowly down a drain, the first drop of liquid that seeps through a small needle, and the last word spoken in a small hospital room.

I have learned to view life differently now. I have learned that no matter how hard someone can fight, there will only be one winner. And it’s not always a fair fight, either.

I have learned that hospital nurses are far more patient than you think. I might not have needed to know all of their names, if it wasn’t for you. Maybe one for the time I broke my leg and one for the time I got my wisdom teeth pulled. Not a name more than that.

And lastly, I have learned how incredibly strong you can make people. That might be the only thing I like about you, but honestly, it is very important. It proves to me that you are not what everyone says you are. You are a bully, that is true. But you are not a monster. You don’t strive to kill, it’s just in your nature. You have the ability to create warriors out of people who never knew how to hold a sword. People who are too passive to fight for themselves, but somehow find the courage. People such as small children, the elderly, even teenagers just trying to figure everything out on their own. Of course, they don’t get the chance to, because yet another obstacle is thrown in their path.

You taught me that there is beauty in even the most destructive events. You taught me that there is a God out there, and that he really does have all the answers. We will all live and face death some day, even those who nearly find it too soon. However, nothing is certain in life, as you know too well, but you have caused me to see past that uncertainty, and realize that the purest happiness is found in love that you have created.

And because of that, I would like to thank you.