(January 1999)
[company]
So much goes on at conference that we never know what is next.
We laugh and sing, we study and learn, we give and we receive, we cry!
The most powerful experience for me last year was the session devoted to
the ACC. I didn't know what was ahead if me on that day as I walked over
to my region's tables at the start. Another gift lay at each place
setting, a white handipt candle and a wax catcher in a nice box. The
music played as everyone entered. Excitement filled the room as we all
gathered around our tables. My leader had been to conference the year
before, so she had some idea what was ahead as she told us we would need
a hanky.
As things got under way, my mind left the room. I didn't know
if I should stay as cancer was the last thing in the world I wanted to
hear about. A year earlier I lost my Beloved uncle to prostate cancer.
It was a summer filled with all the horrors of cancer! I had to call
Europe and locate my roommate to tell him he needed to come right home
as his mother was placed on hospice care as breast cancer was taking its
toll on her. The loss of Jane Randolph left me with a broken heart and a
broken man for a roommate. He was not the same. Cancer striped our home
of all its joy and changed our lives forever. The holidays that year
were very depressing even though I had a strong business. I drew close
to 3
The new year got off to a bad start as my roommate's grief was
to great for him to handle and I feared for his life every day. Just
when I thought life was the worst it could ever get, I found out that I
also had the same prostate cancer that my uncle had just died from. What
bad timing! I told only two people. First I told my pastor and we agreed
that I had to help out my roommate first before I could tell him. I made
plans to move my roommate in with his dad in Ohio the first of August
The two of them needed each other and it was time to start his life over
new and fresh. I would tell him of my cancer after the move and start my
treatments back in Florida as the house was on the market.
The other person that I told was My
Now it was July and I was in Washington listening to Dianne
Baldridge tell her cancer story! I was numb and couldn't move. Cancer
was not something I could talk about like she did. I felt as if I could
feel every last bit of her pain, fears and suffering. Her words had all
9,000 people in tears on the edge of there seats. Her openness and
honesty with us told me that we in
That meeting was a new beginning for me! Dianne, along with
all 9,000 of you had given me reason to stand up and fight! I always
wanted to write a letter to Dianne thanking her for all that she has
done for us, but I know that she is far to busy and gets way to much
mail as it is.
I remembered a talk that Dianne had given us later on that
week. In it she expressed how upsetting all the unkind words were to
her. I know how she feels. When you look at death as a possible outcome
to your cancer, you start to view life in a new light! From that point
on, I knew that writing letters of thanks and encouragement to
In the past 8 months, I have been through a lot. Sickness, a
move to Ohio, and a real slow restart in my business. All along the way
when I have been too weak to go on, it has been my
It is easy to help your friends. I was a stranger to all of
you when you began to help me. I was just a
Note:
Sadly, this wonderful article of Hanks got fragmented and parts are
missing. If you are reading this and have a full copy of this
article, please email belinda@bestofboards.com
This page last
updated July 06, 2005
