I recently had the privilege of spending the day with two very brave young men, and their equally courageous parents. This Fantastic Four lives everyday with the realities of a shared disorder which affects their every choice, every decision and every action. For over a quarter of a century the science of their circumstance has been an unending truth that holds no hope of a cure or improvement beyond the existing rigors of their daily lives - affecting this quartet and all who become introduced to their world.
By contrast (to the aforementioned disorder), cancer is a disease. It seems like everyday new therapies are being discovered, new interventions are being developed and new miracles are being celebrated - cures for the myriad strains of cancer that seem to surround us; orbiting closer and closer to our individual universes (present company case in point).
As we have discussed within these pages, there currently is no cure for Multiple Myeloma. And as I have also shared, my Onc team feels highly confident that research will one day have an answer to the Multiple Myeloma conundrum (predictably before I relapse), and I too will be able to join the growing ranks of the cured.
But for my loving friends (The Fantastic Four), there will be no cure. They will forever endure the certainty of their situation, they will wrestle with the realm of their issues, and they will adjust their attitudes around the undeniable parameters of their future. We among the cancer cadre have the possibility of a light at the end of our tunnels. These folks only have a tunnel, and they have shown us the light on how to make the most of their passage - their journey. In my eyes, they are the brave ones.
