Unspoken Message

I sit at the computer and my heart is full of words and thoughts, yet I wonder where to start. I know that amid the jumble of ideas, there lies an important message and it needs to escape and find new homes. I do ask this, at the end of this writing I will ask a favor and that favor will not cost you one cent…yep, that’s right nothing monetary. But I feel most of you will willingly give of yourself for the betterment of others.

The picture attached to this story holds a special place in my heart. It is the first picture recently taken of Lili Vale Vansluys and me. See, we are two of the many faces of cancer. We don’t own it, we don’t want it but it has become part of both of us. In our case, we even share the same diagnosis, Multiple Myeloma, which is an insidious rare blood cancer. It has become treatable but remains incurable….so far. Warriors like Lili and I will stop at nothing in our quest to simply stay a bit longer among those that we love. It isn’t that we do not accept the fact that we all will transition someday to places yet unknown. We just mercifully reach a point where death holds no power over us with its ever gnawing and motivating fear. We grow beyond that. We grow into love.

          Among this tribe of people who live with a cancer diagnosis, there is a love like no other non-romantic set of emotions. It is truly unconditional, it is supportive and it is an understanding unlike any other. Unless you are personally touched with such a diagnosis, you can’t get it and my wish is you never do. I tell those in this tribe that I love them, and they know the depth and strength of that love because it is returned in like. I truly love all those touched by this onus.

As each of us travel this unwanted personal   journey we are on, we have to make decisions on treatments we can accept as what is best for each of us. Those decisions are to be honored because they come from the soul of each seeker. They become a belief that arose from the hope we all retain as we walk the walk. They come after much research and all of us become masters of navigating the immense amount of data and separating the bullshit from those containing real possibilities. Whatever you do, honor our decisions and do not interject negativity. We simply don’t need it.

Lili has elected to have an autologous transplant; a procedure in which you receive your own stem cells back after high dose chemo therapy. She is currently at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and started treatment yesterday. Before going to Boston, her beautiful family came to Maine and filled the days with love and togetherness. I consider myself very lucky to have met and become friends with many of them. I can feel the energy she gets from the love and support of her family but especially her husband Henri. He is truly a treasure not only to her but to all he meets. Lili has a great support group surrounding her.

Now for the request and yes, I warned you it was coming…grin. I believe in the power that resides in each of us. Call it anything you want to, but it is there and it works. If you would be so kind, include Lili in your prayers, send her Reiki, supply her with an unending flow of healing energy, send your intention for success to the powers of the Universe, simply smile when you think of her and her family, send the same energy and thought to the doctors treating this malady for wisdom and success. Do so and I know, without a grain of doubt, this will work for her.

The good thing about love given freely is it echoes and ripples throughout this universe. Sow the seeds of love and through one life at a time, we will change the world’s motivation from one of fear to that of love. Wouldn’t that be magnificent?

Lili, we will collectively be with you and Henri during this part of the journey. We will be the warmth of the sun shining through a window. We will be the quiet voices you sense rather than hear. We will be the love you feel suddenly and without explanation. We will be in the smile of a nurse. We will be the coolness of a sip of water to ease the dryness. We will be an unfelt but sensed hand on your shoulder. We are all this to let you know you are not alone…ever. We will be what you need….

Richard D. Rowland ©2018

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