Monday, June 22, 2015

Jay Michael's Cancer Journey, Part III

Photo by Melissa Salvatore for Splash
Cedar Street's Jay Michael continues his series about dealing with a cancer diagnosis, MY CHOICE TO LIVE, in Splash, with a column about learning a difficult lesson: how to accept help at a time when everything is difficult due to his Stage IV Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
It was at the moment that I realized that it was OK to ask for help, because I had no other choice. It was OK to let go and ask selfishly of those who love me most — I have given freely of myself for as long as I can remember but this is my time to take — and as much as that may have felt unnatural, it also felt right, for the first time ever. [...]

If there is one thing I have learned more than anything from cancer, it is how to graciously accept the unbelievable amount of love and kindness that has overtaken me from all directions. Of course, my dear friends and family have been beyond remarkable, but what has really taken me aback has been the outpouring of love and emotion from people I knew only in passing or those whom I had not known at all.
Our links to Part I and Part II of Jay's diary are hyperlinked.  Jay is in our thoughts and prayers as he continues this phase of his life as "a newly appointed Warrior against stage IV cancer."

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