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How has PH changed your life in a positive way?
Last night my friend, Alysha, passed away. She was at home on hospice surrounded by family. Knowing she won’t suffer any longer comes as a relief to me.
While carpooling to Stanford for our respective appointments, I was blessed to learn from Alysha’s perspective on life and illness. Throughout her 20’s she fought stage IV breast cancer that spread to her lungs, liver, and brain. Alysha recognized the ways cancer had changed the course of her life, and readily pointed out that in many ways it had changed for the better.
She told me that if cancer hadn’t come into her life she probably wouldn’t have chosen to eat healthy and practice yoga. She imagined she would have been more of a party girl, following her family history of alcoholism. Her positivity was a wake-up call to me, boiling over with frustration at the time.
I hate cancer and I hate PH. But people who have these diseases are capable of choosing to let them change their lives for the better. Alysha showed me that is possible.
How has PH changed your life in a positive way?
Brittany wrote last month about the value she brings to her relationships. I’m essentially echoing her here because the first thing that comes to my mind is how PH has impacted my relationships.
PH helped shape and clarify all of my relationships. Furthermore, many people are in my life only because of my PH diagnosis. I wouldn’t give up my PHriends for anything, including perfect health.
I’m grateful for the empathy I have as a result of growing up with chronic illness. My friendship with Alysha might never have happened if we weren’t both fighting terminal diseases. She was able to talk to me about things that other people in her life didn’t understand. That’s a special gift that the disease gave me.
Can you identify any gifts PH has given you?
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