He’s Back
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the sparkle behind those eyes.
My friend Bruce found out he had a very serious form of leukemia just over a year ago and since then he’s been using every ounce of energy, grit and stamina to just stay alive. I doubt he’s been worrying about his ‘sparkle.’ But, I’ve been watching for it, hoping one day I’d see that twinkle in his eyes return and that day has come.
It’s a happy time for me. There were days, actually weeks, when I was worried that the disease was getting the best of him. If it wasn’t the cancer that was weighing in, it was the treatment that was more than he could handle. He had a bone marrow transplant. NOT an easy procedure to come back from, to say the least.
It’s like Leroy once said…”My doctors are trying to kill me.” Remember that blog…when he wrote about how the chemo and all the other drugs could do bigger damage than the cancer itself? Well, that was Bruce too. With no immune system, leukemia lurking, a beat-up and tired body, he was at his weakest point.
But he’s a fighter, he’s proven that and I’m so proud of that fighting spirit. Once again, and for a long time, I hope, cancer has been beaten back.
I have seen the ‘sparkle’ in those eyes. The spirit has returned. He’s back.
May 5, 2011 @ 11:32 pm
Great news. I know Bruce will continue to improve.
May 5, 2011 @ 9:13 pm
Excellent news Laurie..a sparkle in they eyes and eyes being the window to the soul! Good for Bruce.
May 5, 2011 @ 6:58 pm
Congrats to Bruce!!! He has looked into the eyes of the beast and at this point the beast has retreated. We’ll pray that it will be a lasting remission. He knows how fortunate he is. It doesn’t work for everyone. Hopefully one day he will visit us here and share his story. It is a story of HOPE and that is needed in the cancer world…a reason and better still a person we “know” who has walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and has emerged on the other side in remission. Best wishes to you Bruce and family and friends. Tell your story unabashedly, not with braggadocio but with truth, the unvarnished truth. Patients and caregivers would like to hear it because it plants or reaffirms that to HOPE is realistic and that it is possible because you are a testament to that fact. May God continue to bless you.