The One in Which I Want to Make a Difference

Warning: The following blog post contains language which is intended for Mature Audiences only.  (I would have to count how many F words I used to actually rate it R or PG-13, and "Ain't nobody got time for that!")  Discretion is advised.

This is a true story. Anyone that was a junior or senior at Hopewell Valley Central High School in Pennington, NJ in the early-80's will back me up on this if they were a witness. My memory is a little fuzzy on the detail, partly because of my age, partly because...ummmm...I have BRAIN CANCER. Hello?! (#freepass) But mostly because I'm really not sure what was going on that day. The best I can determine is that I was a witness to someone's psychological meltdown. So, some of the specifics might be inaccurate, but remember what my mom and dad told me: "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." [P.S. Yes, that means that you should always be slightly suspicious about any stories they tell you.]

Back to the story:

I never realized before that our mascot looks kind of like a rabid dog, no?

When I was about 15 or so, the whole high school student body - actually, I think it might have been juniors/seniors -  were ushered into the auditorium because the principal...or ass't superintendent? (fuzzy, unnecessary details) ...was going to address us. So, we took our seats, and there's this man at the podium, wearing a suit, looking really serious, ready to speak. Only, when he started talking, he didn't make sense...except that it was clear that :1) He was having some kind of mental breakdown, and 2) He wasn't going to have his job after that day. He was rambling on about something or other...The part that I do remember quite clearly is that he said:

"25% of people are going to require psychiatric care sometime in their lives....Look to the left of you." (Everyone looked to the left.) "Look to the right of you." (Again, everyone reflexively looked to the right, albeit with a baffled expression on our faces.) "If it's not one of them, it's you." [Kiddos, I'm pretty sure his math was faulty... ] Shortly there after that, he was politely escorted off the stage by some school district personnel and I don't think I ever saw him again. I swear I'm not making this up! Who would make something like this up?

I was thinking about that experience recently as I was looking at cancer statistics this week. Not that mental breakdown part, but the odds of being afflicted with something.This is Brain Tumor Awareness Month, but as I said, Cancer is cancer is cancer. And everyone has been/is currently/or will be touched by cancer sometime in their lives. That's not some crazy rambling fact from a poor person having a very public mental breakdown. Honestly, I wish it were. That's some hard, cold facts. For example, if 1 in every 2 males will have cancer in their lifetime...Male readers: it could be YOU. or your father, or your brother, or your grandfather...but anyway you look at it,  you are going to be touched by the pain and anguish of dealing with this disease. All of you. Sooner or later.

Female readers: Apparently, we have a 1 in 3 chance in our lifetime of getting cancer.  I've already been "touched by cancer" in my family  - twice, actually. My maternal grandmother and her sister (my great-aunt) both died of cancer.

There's my Grandma Gobinski with most of her grandchildren. I think this may be the only time the plastic covers weren't on the sofa cushions.

 This fact is always written in my chart when I visit a new doctor. So, I'm thinking I've done my whole odds thing, right? But then when you include my good friends that have been diagnosed with cancer... my mother-in-law and father-in-law who are also Warriors (I'm not going to blab about the specifics because that's their stories to tell)...it seems like I've already reached...no, FAR exceeded the statistical average... But then, son-of-a-bitch! I get diagnosed with brain cancer? [It's just like me to be afflicted with the weirdo, pretty rare kind of cancer. Always gotta be "different", huh, June? j/k] 

Seriously, though. Don't we all think, deep in our hearts and minds that someone else in our lives has already fulfilled our statistics? "It's not gonna be ME!" I've talked to other people who have been diagnosed with cancer, and it's very common to have that thought early on in the process: "Why ME?!?!" But the real question is, "Why NOT ME?" Unless you have some super, special force field around your body to prevent it , I hate to break the news to you, but...you are not safe. I'm a Mother Fucking Ninja Warrior, for fuck's sake! I thought I was safe. No, that's not exactly true. The truth is (...it sounds moronic to say now) but I didn't think about it at all. And I can say with absolute certainty that the news was the most shocking, surreal thing that I've ever experienced. So, I say to you again, male or female: Anyway you look at it,  you are going to be touched by the pain and anguish of dealing with this disease. All of you. Sooner or later.

Well, that was bummer news, huh? But I have HOPE, and I know you do, too.  I believe that the collective intelligence and ingenuity of researchers working together around the world, we will eventually find a CURE for cancer. Selfishly, I'm hoping it comes sooner rather than later. These stable MRI's are great for right now, but I'd like to have the fucking cancer cells completely out of my body, FOREVER, at some point ....while I'm still alive. (In case I didn't make that clear enough.)

So, I've mentioned this already, but I wanted to dedicate a whole blog post to this. I am participating in a Relay for Life team. And it would be totally bitchin' if you could donate some money to the cause.  It's pretty simple. Just click on the link and follow the instructions.

 June's Wine Girl Ninjas' Relay for Life

You can donate to any of us on the team. And feel free to stop by and cheer us on!

Saturday, June 27-28, 2015

9:00AM to 9:00AM

Livermore High School

600 Maple St, Livermore

Oh, and pay no attention to whether I've "reached my goal" or not. We will have "reached our goal" when we don't have to think about the statistics any more because we've found a CURE. I'd love to see that happen in my lifetime, but if it doesn't work out that way, I will know that this Mother Fuckin' Brain Cancer Fighting Ninja Warrior did something to help because she has the most amazing Warriors standing beside her.

 No One Fights Alone!

Love,
June Xoxoxo
#mfbcfnw

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FYI - At some point soon, I will address the fact that May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month - and not all brain tumors are cancerous. Many are "benign" which is a misnomer in some ways because people can die - many do - from "benign"brain tumors.