Reflections Of... Courage!

                  "Bald and Beautiful--The Face of Courage!"

           Reflections Of…Courage!

                                  by Alan P. Scaglione

You see that face?

That’s what courage looks like!
My forever friend Sandy has just completed her first cycle of three rounds of chemo.
She has been so strong through all of this.
I work with a team of nurses, and a few of them prepared me for what Sandy was facing.
They talked about a “cumulative effect”—
They said each round would wear her down more and quicker and by third round, she would be exhausted and sleeping constantly.
I guess they never met Sandy!
Nope—she figured out the pattern in round 1 and… prepared for it in round 2.
She knew when to take her meds to do this and meds to do that—ahead of time—preparing her body for the next step of the pattern.
And wow! By third round—she had it down to a science.
That is not to say that there wasn’t that period of exhaustion—it came, but it went—and she was prepared for it.
When her hair started to come out, just a little—she said “I’m not waiting for it to decide when to fall out—CUT IT OFF NOW!”
And we cheered her on!
Her husband Derrick, the best husband in the whole world, shaved his head too.
Other family members cut their hair off in support of what Sandy is going through.
My wife however, warned me that I was not to cut off my hair—
She tried to be kind and loving but…hearing the words “you just don’t have a head for no hair!” was neither! Ouch!
So… so far, I’ve kept my hair—but someday soon—hey? What’s my wife gonna do?
Sandy’s daughter-in-law found a wonderful way to support her “Mom” and help others.
She donated a foot of hair to Locks of Love in support of Sandy.
IF you can do something like that—it really does help people who are going through this same battle!
In all of this Summer of Courage for her and her family and friends—the one thing she has wanted the most…
Has been the hardest thing to give her!
“Just treat me like nothing is different—don’t change how you treat me just because…”
I have to admit—I haven’t been able to do that as well as she wants or as well as I should.
She’s my forever friend—we’ve known each other since the first day of high school!
She has often reminded me of the person she met and that he is still alive, inside of me—even 35 years later!
We’ve been through a lot together, good and bad, tough and rough times…
And then June 10^th came along, and everything turned upside down.
But I’ve seen her wear her “badge of courage” admirably!
The Word says in Joshua 1:9 “Be strong and of good courage—for the Lord your God is with you!”
And I’ve never seen that message displayed better than watching this summer unfold in Sandy’s life!
Her faith is solid, her determination is focused, her belief is unshaken!
She is courage!
And she inspires all who love her to “Fight the Good Fight!”
We who know her best know—this is just Sandy being Sandy!
She has handled every other crisis in her life in the same way—head on, feet first, attitude positive!
And later this month, when she gets the results of the effect of the first cycle of chemo —we KNOW—
Sandy will once again show us all how it’s done!
And I will work on treating her like nothing has changed—just wish I could step in and shield all this bad from her and her family—
But she would tell me “I got this! Jesus is my Rock—and I trust Him to take care of me!”
And she means every word!

Brother “A”

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SHARE YOUR STORY OF COURAGE!