Dear Cancer,

You attack the young and old, the rich and poor, men, women and children, and prove to be a tremendous burden on both patients, families, and friends. You are the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 8.2 million deaths. There are more than 100 types of you and you affect any part of the body that you please.

Luckily, I have not gotten to know you as personally as many have, but we have gotten to know each other pretty well. You decide to come around at the worst possible times and hurt the ones that I love the most. Some make it through and some do not.

You decide to bring unnecessary pain to people who do not deserve it. So I have some questions. How do you decide? How do you decide who your next poor victim will be? It seems to be the most undeserving people such as an innocent child, someone’s father, someone’s mother. You make the people I love the most, hurt the most. You seem to come around during the worst possible time, although I suppose any time you come around is the worst.

How can you live with yourself while watching people break inside while trying to wear masks of strength? You caused my dad go through unimaginable pain, you stole my aunt from me, you hurt my cousins, you have stolen oneof my grandmothers then attempted to steal the other soon after. You did this all while I had to watch helplessly from the sidelines. I should not have had to put my grandmother into her bed and tuck her in while working around her oxygen chords, yet I had to. There are millions of people out there who are forced watch as their loved ones suffer. How could you possibly enjoy watching as children cry and parents lay restless in their beds?

I guess what I really do not understand above all of this is what your end goal is...why does it seem that your desire is to take someone,anyone, away from this world and keep them from living a full and happy life? You could give me a million excuses as to why but I truly believe that I would never understand. How could you rip someone away from their family and their beautiful life? I guess I need to know why this horrible thing could happen to so many good people.

In the end, I know you will never give me the answers that I and so many others seek. Those you have attacked and worn down are not giving up, and neither are we. Studies are showing that survival rates are improving. We are slowly starting to beat you. It might not be tomorrow, or next year, or even in the next twenty years…but we are going to win. One day, you are no longer going to have all the power in YOUR hands. This vision will become a reality someday, and I am sure of it. We are getting more and more answers every day and you should be scared.

Sincerely,

One Furious Loved One