Deeply disturbed, I went to see my friend at the hospital. When I walked in, I must have looked a bit glum. George greeted me with a great big smile and an enthusiastic greeting! He said, “Jay don’t you be concerned about me, I will be just fine.” He then explained, “I will beat this challenge, I have the ‘Cross of Jesus’ upon me, and ‘He’ will look out for me!” In candor, all I could think at the time was, “You poor chap, I pray your end is an easy one!”

We chatted for a while, and I wished him good fortune and left. I never thought I would see him again.

Of course, I attended my good friend’s funeral! It was 37 years later - he died not of cancer, but of a heart attack. In the interim, he had acquired a new wife, six added children, a successful business, etc. By some wondrous process, the tumor literally had melted away in the weeks after the biopsy, and had not re-occurred. Some 20+ of his children and grandchildren crowded the jammed funeral home. I have no idea what had occurred here, but George was right, I need not have worried.

But that is not the end of this account. Now, quite a number of years later, I am the survivor of three cancers. In each case, there has been a surgical removal. I have often thought of my friend George. My third surgery was my greatest challenge. I have pancreatic cancer. I was scheduled for a “Whipple” surgery. I remain an academic/researcher. Following George’s most optimistic view of life, on the same day as my scheduled Whipple surgery, on the way to the hospital, I dropped into the mailbox two abstracts for research talks scheduled to be presented in the following spring. And yes, I did deliver those talks the next spring to my fellow researchers in Fort Lauderdale!

Four plus years later, I have become convinced that having a highly positive outlook does make a difference! It matters not to what faith one adheres, nor even if one follows an organized religion, per se. Rather, it is the will to live, the desire to make a difference in this imperfect World, or simply the willingness to not give up, that seems to count. However expressed, such desires surely are not everything, but by living life to the full, we can only gain!

~ Jay M. Enoch ~