Drive Away Cancer

Drive Away Cancer

As soon as school let out, I traveled down to Kentucky to visit with my grandma.  I had an appointment on the last day of school to see the radiologist.  As soon as I got home, I worked like a mad woman to get the van packed and ready to go.  Why the urgent rush, summer has just started? 

The answer:

 

My grandmother is dying from pancreatic cancer.  There have been several times over the past year where I wanted to hop on the plane and go visit with her.  I wanted to help her with lunch or dinner. I wanted to clean her apartment for her. I wanted to do a load of wash for her.  Most of all, I wanted to play games with her. I love to play games and I love to win even more.  My grandmother at 89 (90 this coming August 11^th) plays with a “no mercy attitude.”  Almost every summer since I can remember I have gone to Kentucky.  I loved the car ride and looking for cows or horses or counting the barns or semi-trucks as my dad drove.  I learned how to ride a bike in Kentucky.  I learned how to make a great apple crisp in Kentucky.  I learned how to play so many different types of games or crafts.  Last summer we did not end up doing much of anything and I missed out on our Kentucky trip.  Shortly after I was diagnosed with my cancer, my grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and also given the “not long to live” line.  Just like my grandmother plays with a “no mercy attitude,” she also lives with a fighting attitude.  She pushed on and enjoyed the holidays with her family.  She celebrated great-grandchildren’s birthdays with them.  She even whupped my butt in a few games!  It was really nice to see her play games with my daughters.  It was so nice to give my children that experience.  I know that the girls had a great time.  After we got back to NJ, they asked if we were going back to Kentucky.  As a history teacher I have to work with Ruthie a little more on geography.  We were driving around Cincinnati and Ruthie said “is this the Lincoln tunnel?”

Quick synopsis of the trip:  We played games with grandma.  We went to the zoo with my cousin and her family.  We visited with another cousin and his boys.  We went swimming in a pool. (total excitement for the girls).  We went to a bounce house place.  We fed the fish at great-grandma’s pond (at the complex, she doesn’t have a real pond.)  We visited my aunt and uncle who are building their own house.  It was amazing to see it in person.  We let butterflies go free.  My grandmother loves butterflies and has a butterfly bush which attracts butterflies.  We experienced Shua in a hotel room....

Now the point of the blog:  Hope you are still reading.  While I was in Kentucky I had an experience of a lifetime.  I met an amazing man.  His name is John.  Here is his website:  http://driveawaycancernow.org/  I do hope you visit it and help him on his journey.  He started driving a 1953 Austin Healey across the country to help raise money for cancer awareness.  I listened to him talk about some of his journeys across the country in a car that is falling apart.  Why drive an old falling apart car across the country?  In one of his stories he said “there is something about Grace (the car) which lets you forget your pain for a little bit.”  He is absolutely right.  I am cancer free but my grandmother is not.  She went for a ride in the car.  She has a hard time walking around due to the pain and doesn’t leave her house much.  She walked out to the car and wanted to go for a ride.  When it was over she said “that was really neat.”  It was a great day for her.  I went in the car for a ride and there was something about the drive and the wind blowing through my hair.  Yes, wind blowing through my hair!!!  I have enough hair for the wind to mess it up.  What a great feeling.  I will say it again, John Nikas who is a cancer survivor himself, is an amazing man. Again, I hope you check out his site for yourself and read a few of the comments.  He has helped so many sick children be pain free for a few minutes. He has rode in the rain and the heat in a car without a top or air conditioning just to give a sick kid a moment of happiness.

 Dave Stursma of Moss Motors, Rachel Isler and John Nikas standing behind Grace the Austin Healey 100