Today is the 17th year since I lost a breast to cancer. But then again, I was born with two. So this year, just last April, I lost the remaining one also to breast cancer.
What is most amazing is that after this second mastectomy, no further treatment was needed because the cancer was caught early. This was the opposite of what I had to go through 17 years ago, when I was diagnosed at such an advanced stage of the disease that it required the most aggressive treatment the body could take.
Living with cancer is a journey filled with joys and sorrows. I have seen many fellow travelers succumb to cancer; and during this almost two-year old pandemic, I have seen many more fall to COVID-19. At the same time, we get to celebrate healing, favorable test results and family milestones we never thought we would reach.
I give thanks and praise to God Almighty, most merciful, most compassionate and most generous, for the gift of this journey. I know that to wake up in the morning is a miracle in itself... and I am ever grateful.
Last month, I started walking because I joined a virtual race for which I had to log 45 kilometers. I didn't think I could make it because it just rained and rained that last week of July. I started walking with an umbrella just to finish. Then this month, I joined another one. And even after I had finished the required 40 kilometers for this month's virtual race, I have just kept on walking during the weekends.
It's my Guardian Angel who wakes me up early enough so I could walk--sometimes three kilometers, sometimes four or even seven. I wonder now why I walk, in the same way I have often wondered why I am still alive. But I don't waste the effort, I use the time to pray, to count my blessings, to give thanks to the Lord.
I give thanks for the new day, for the energy and strength to walk, for the good health and safety of the family, for son's promotion, for daughter's new job, for mother's baptism and confirmation (earlier this year) in the faith in which she and my late father raised their children, for family and friends and loved ones who have walked this unpredictable journey (uphill, downhill and sideways) with our little family.
With each step I grow breathless, literally because of the exertion of walking, but more so because of the recognition of how much the Lord has shown undeserved favor on this breast-less creature still journeying the winding paths of this earth.
