Dear Cancer,

I hate you. No… I despise you. But it’s more than that -- I loathe you, abhor you, detest you. I cannot think of something in life I abominate more than you, Cancer.

That being said, I’m fascinated by you. How did you come into this world, something so evil and hideous? Who let you in? I have so many questions for you, Cancer, but please - don’t even answer me because if I got a letter back from you I would burn it.

Are you aware of what you do? The impact you have is so tremendously strong that it's like an omnipotent power. In fact, many people I know have stopped believing in any higher power (like God or something) because you have stripped them of their belief in anything good. I’m just wondering, does that make you feel empowered? Because it definitely should… you are powerful. You took all my grandparents away from me before I even got to high school. You almost took my brother too, but you only got away with his pinky toe, leaving him with a year of chemo and an eight-inch scar down his leg. He was a 16-year-old boy who you probably thought was an easy target, right? You do an impressive amount of damage, Cancer. If that is your goal, then congratulations. You are succeeding at the moment…

But I’m here to tell you that your reign will soon come to an end.

I doubt you ever went to school, so let me give you a quick history lesson: Over the past few centuries, there have been many evil dictators in positions of power. Humanity has witnessed Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Vlad III (a.k.a the Impaler), Mao Zedong, Saddam Hussein, and countless more. Cancer, you are by far the most terrible and malicious dictator in history. You prey on your victims at random, and you have no mercy. You come and you go, but then you come back and strike when we least expect it. So, yeah you terrify me. But I’ll let you in on a little secret… those bad guys I mentioned above always lose.

I’m not sure why, but our world follows this natural order where things never stay. We exist in a life where everything is constantly changing, both bad and good things. When Robert Frost said, “Nothing gold can stay,” I think he meant that good things do not last forever -- a universal truth you have clearly used to your advantage. But guess what, Cancer, bad things don't stay either. You are everything bad: you are a bully, a terrorist, a dictator, a parasite. You are homelessness, bankruptcy, tragedy, divorce. You are hatred, failure, crisis, and depression. But your supremacy is almost over, you power-hungry rat. History speaks for itself and your time is almost up.

In this letter, I wanted to accomplish three things: First, I wanted to tell you how much I freakin' hate you. Second, I wanted to make it clear that you will eventually lose. But perhaps most importantly -- I wanted to thank you. What you have put me and my family through over the past few years has only made us stronger. You have taught us how to cope, how to fight, how to talk, and how to love. You have brought us together when your goal may have been to tear us apart. And what do you have to show for it? You have my brother’s pinky toe. Have fun with that useless body part. We are better people because of you, which means you have already lost one battle in this war.

Until you lose the war with the rest of humanity, however, we all will continue to fight against you. We will keep wearing sunscreen and preaching about plastic water bottles. We will reject tobacco and promote active lifestyles. We will run marathons and hold fund raisers. We will do what we can to fight while you are in power. When you are finally conquered, however, you will just be another one of those delusional bad guys who thought they could take over the world. But the only mark you will have made is an empty spot where a boy’s pinky toe once was... something he can certainly live without.