Cancer,

I hate you! I can't give you a better introduction because there is nothing good about pain, suffering, or the damage you cause. You put your victims through endless torment, and sometimes even bring them to end. Nothing is good about you.

You have ripped the world from out under me not just once, but twice. My first introduction to you was when I was 10 years old. Of course times before that I knew who you were and what you could do, but had no idea you would impact my life the way you have. Grandpa was sick, and no matter how many times people told me "Grandpa will get better", I knew deep down he was just going to get worse.

My grandpa was my hero, the one person I looked up to. He was the strongest person I knew, and I knew he could conquer any challenge that came his way. But, somehow you overpowered him in every way possible. You took everything from him. There was only so much my grandpa could do to conquer you. But even through all the treatments and medications, and never ending hospital stays you took every part of him that made him who he was.

You made him weak. You put him in pain. And you made him watch his family slowly fall apart as he was slowly destroyed. You intruded his life and killed him in every possible way. And in just nine months you took him from me. You slowly broke him down until he wasn't grandpa anymore. You tore him and my whole family apart.

I will never forget the day that my mom picked us up from school and told us grandpas life was coming to end quickly. The plan was to take him off of the medication that was barely keeping him alive, so he could get away from the pain and suffering you had caused. It was in that moment that I realized I was going to have to walk through life for many years without my grandpa walking with me. That I was going to have to live without his words of wisdom and great hugs.

It was in that very moment I realized that you were no longer foreign to me. You were as close to me as my grandpa was. You came into my life, and for only knowing you a short time you took my grandpa from me.

But, this was not the only instance you destroyed and took people that weren't yours to take. I remember getting a call from my mother one day. She told me that you were once again trying to take another from my family. Although someone I had only met once or twice. But, it hurt all the same.

You invaded the life of my cousin Carly. And once again did what you do, and destroyed her in every possible way. And in no way did you leave any hope behind. Once again through all the treatments and medications you somehow out beat the strength she had. You took her from all of us. You took someone that didn't even have the chance to really live. She was only three. How do you continue to destroy people and their families without any mercy?

But, through both instances I have become stronger. You are no longer the stranger you once were, you have become well known. I know every aspect of you. And I am no longer afraid. I am not afraid of you and I will continue doing what I do best. Just like the two wonderful people you took, I will fight for the people battling the very same thing the did; YOU.

Sincerely,

Someone that is stronger than you.