in good spirits

life can throw you some curve balls once in a while. last month, my older brother had a root canal and also vomitted frequently. a trip to the emergency room revealed that his vomitting wasn't caused by the root canal or any stomach ailment, but from a tumor found on his brain. an emergency surgery was performed to remove some of the mass and a subsequent test revealed chris has lung cancer, stage 4 and had spread to his brain. to those not familiar with the stages of cancer, stage 4 is the most advanced stage, where it has metastisized(spread) to other parts of the body. the extent of the metastasis is unknown at this time as we are waiting for further test results. in any event, chris will be receiving the utmost love and support from friends and family.

this isn't the first time my family has had to deal with cancer. 20 years earlier, my mom passed away from cancer. she too had lung cancer.i was 15 when she died,and i remember how much it affected me. she was gone too soon at 48. the cruel part of this story is that neither my mom or brother ever smoked in their lives.

the other day, i went to go visit my brother at his house as he was still recovering from surgery. he was feeling a little weak, but was in good spirits. this tender moment is with chris and his youngest son, ethan...