I Speak of Dreams

Not happy, but grateful: what medical science can do

On October 10, 2012, Orac posted a story about a case of neglected breast cancer.  The first commenter was Terry Given, whose beloved wife Ruth died of breast cancer on September 23, 2012.

Terry gave Grant Jacobs permission to repost the comment as a blog post. It is the story of the three and a half years of love and togetherness they had after her breast cancer diagnosis.  You need to read it.

Terry wrote,

I thought Ruth was pretty amazing, but I’m biased. As a victim of cancer, she is unfortunately one of many – they are all loved, they are all our sisters, our mothers, our children, our brothers. and they are all missed.

I can say that I am grateful for her cancer though – It really brought Ruth’s family together, and allowed the two of us (me in particular) to realise just what we had. Its true that you dont appreciate what you have until you face losing it.

 

On Salvation « somethingaboutmaps

This story really resonated with me

On Salvation « somethingaboutmaps.

Somehow, despite no background or training, despite a weak performance in History of Science, and despite an application letter that didn’t say much more than “I really like maps,” the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Geography accepted me, and I began a Master’s program in Cartography & GIS. They took a chance on me, and I cannot hope to repay them for that.

I threw away everything I had ever thought I wanted to do with my life and leapt blindly into the unknown. I abandoned the safe, clear path I had been plotting since I was a child. As simple as it sounds, that was probably the most courageous thing I’ve ever done in my life.

Haiti: Help the Suffering & Shame the Vile

I'm heartsick about the death and suffering of the Haitian people.  My town on the San Francisco peninsula has a population of about 75,000 people.  The death toll in Haiti will be in multiples of that number.  It is literally stunning -- imagine everyone you saw today...dead. Or wounded, or homeless.

The American Red Cross raised over $1 million dollars on January 13, 2009 alone by the simple expedient of giving people the option of texting a code that would add $10.00 to their phone bill in the next billing cycle.

Other philanthropies have used the same mechanism -- sending a specific text message to a specific phone number -- to raise money.

I've donated to two organizations who have "boots on the ground" (BOG) and a history in Haiti:

• Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
• Partners in Health (PIH)

There are many other equally worthy aid organizations.  Just watch out for scams.

365 Days of Grace in Small Things

I'd intended to do a daily grace meditation, and then life -- especially the death of my daughter's father -- intervened. Back to doing it again. Every day if I can. Todays' grace: a giggling toddler at the mall.