The kindness of strangers and friends

From The Atlantic

One thing I've found about having cancer is that so many people step in to show you how kind, loving, caring, generous of spirit they are.  For every story you hear about a person who was suspended for sporting a pink mohawk or shaving their head in support of someone with cancer, or fined for wearing non-regulation uniforms to raise funds or show support, or (more recently) made fun of in a national magazine for what they choose to wear while running a marathon while undergoing chemo.  I promise you there are at least a hundred more where people are amazing.  Absolutely amazing. 

I've been on the receiving end of this kind of heartwarming gesture, from offers of company and support, to prayers and warm wishes, to things from friends and family to remind me that they're thinking of us, to notes and cards and electronic messages from people who want to let us know they care.  It really does help lift me up.  Because people are amazing.  And the people I know are really amazing.

The Boston Marathon is coming up again, the first year since the marathon bombings.  Like pretty much everyone else, I was shocked and appalled at what the Tsarnaev brothers did, but I was happy to see the way pretty much everybody else sprang into action to save lives and support each other in the aftermath.  "Boston Strong" is now a thing, not "Boston Terror" or "Boston Broken" or "Boston Cowering."  Just Boston Strong.  Because for every single Tsarnaev, there are at least a hundred more people who are truly amazing.

I don't ever claim to be personally as strong as the collective strength that is Boston, but I find the outpouring of goodness very uplifting.  It mirrors what I feel about the outpouring of love in my own life.

The other day I got an interesting email forwarded to me from my brother with cancer that I'd like to share part of here.  I hope you find it as uplifting as I did. The person who sent it to him is on of his coworkers and this is what she said:

Hello All, 

I'm running in the Boston Marathon to support fundraising for Dana Farber's Barr Program which supports researchers looking to develop new cancer treatment methods. Please consider supporting this effort.

This message is a little personal, which I think is why I've had so much trouble writing it and getting it sent out, so feel free to skip to the end where the donation link is. :) 

I remember when [the brother who emailed this] found out that his sister had been diagnosed with breast cancer. It didn't take him long to decide that he wanted to run Boston to raise money to fight cancer, which I thought was a pretty cool idea. 

Unfortunately, before any progress could be made on that front, [brother] was diagnosed with cancer himself and began what turned into a long process of treatments. 

I thought then that I would like to run Boston for [brother] and for his sister. I pulled up some applications for the charity teams and looked through them, but I was intimidated by the high fundraising goals and, as someone who had never run more than two miles consecutively,  I had no idea if I would even be able to finish the race. I decided to work a little on running before taking the plunge. 

A year later, after watching someone that I care about go through treatments and prognoses that were hard for me to deal with (and I wasn't even the one living with them!), and unfortunately also after the loss of another one of the bright lights at the office, I could not be more ready to raise money to support an end to cancer. 

I'm really excited to finally get to run the Boston Marathon for [brother], for his sister, for [the coworker who recently passed away from cancer], and for the hope that someday my children will never have to experience the struggle with cancer that is too common today. 

How about that?  Pretty cool, right?

I think we all have that choice in front of us, to be selfish and cruel, to be decently normal, or to be amazing.  And I am proud and humbled to know (and to know of) so many people who choose amazing.