They say that people love pics in blog entries, so here is one of Brennan (aka Red Beard, aka sweet potato face) a little before our lymphoma journey started. The use is gratuitous as the blog has nothing to do with this actual pic, but even if my blog entry is dull, you will have enjoyed a picture of the greatest blessing I have ever known, and one that makes every day in the battle against lymphoma one worth winning. Now on to my blog entry...

Eric here, I've been amazed by all the blessings we've received, mostly measured in the friends, family, and people that surround us. Cancer is a scary concept to have to face, especially because of the way it sneaks up on you. We were going along living our happy lives, when out of nowhere, a little lump on Kari's clavicle turns out to be a life threatening condition. Kari and I (and Brennan too, of course) had gone through our lives with pretty much zero knowledge of lymphoma, and then in the course of a week, it turned our lives upside down.

And of course with little knowledge of the disease, the mind has to work overtime to fill in the many blanks resulting from being lymphoma rookies. Enter blessing number 1, my friend George Florentine who I just saw two months ago in Boulder, prior to that the last time I saw him was about 8 years ago snowboarding in Colorado. George happened to have just completed treatment for the same form of Hodgkins that Kari has. He also wrote a blog about the experience, most of which I had read prior to our current lymphoma bout, so rather than being completely ignorant of lymphoma I had a little knowledge based on hanging out with George and reading his blog.

My read of his blog was out of concern for my friend, as the possibility of getting Hodgkins in a year is about 1 in 30,000, so it was hardly likely to touch anyone I knew. But in the moments after Kari told me what the doctor suspected (on the day before Thanksgiving), I immediately thought of my friend George and his story of his battle with lymphoma--my first thought which I took great consolation in, was that I had seen within the month with my own eyes a living, breathing funny and fitter than I'll ever be lymphoma survivor in George--and that Kari and I could get through this too.

On the fitness side, George posted all of his biking and running training times during the period of his chemo and radiation treatment, and in my inside humorous voice, I thought maybe getting Hodgkins was the best route for me to ever have a chance of competing in a triathlon. Of course now facing lymphoma up close, I've decided that I don't want to be a triathlete after all.

Within the hour after hearing the news from Kari and before talking with anyone else, I had emailed George wondering if he had any idea of what I might say to Kari or do to start the battle against lymphoma. George called me as soon as he got the message, and both Kari and I talked to him Thanksgiving eve, even as he had his geographically distributed family gathered ever so briefly for the holiday weekend.

Our discussion with George was sobering and encouraging, and one that allowed us hope and shed some personal experience on a subject that earlier that morning was unfamiliar to us and of seemingly little concern. What a difference a little lump can make, and what a difference to have the blessing of a friend willing to share of himself to help transform the fear of the unknown into something tangible and hence defeatable. George's support, and the support from friends, family, and even some random people, have been the greatest gift to me and the one that makes me both optimistic and leaves me wondering if god's hand isn't at work to put some very spectacular people in our life at the very moment needed.