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Not A Miracle

My surviving with terminal brain cancer, GBM (glioblastoma multiforme), is definitely not a miracle.

A friend, not a relative, said in a recent email:

"  I am grateful for the miracle of Dave beating the odds and having years added to his life. "

I know the person had good intentions but calling my survival a miracle is insulting and offending.
There is no miracle here.

In my life I have never had an unexplainable wonderful event. Certainly I have had many wonderful events. There has never been a miracle nor is my survival unexplainable.
I credit my survival to 3 main factors:
1) the many doctors and medical staff involved with me personally,
2) the diligent support of my family,
3) me
All my life I take each day as a new challenge. That attitude has never changed.

After the complications arose from chemo the survival of each day became more challenging.
The likelihood of my survival was increased simply because I was healthy.
3 months before the GBM diagnosis in late 2016 my son and I biked across Ireland.
For a number of consecutive years including 2016 I averaged about 800 miles biking and 80 miles jogging each year. At age 60 I might have been healthier than at any time since my youth.

After months of being bed-ridden in a hospital my body just needed recovery not a a fresh start.
I had several sessions of physical therapy but I could do an adequate pace on an exercise bike for a warm up.
I nearly died a number of times with either a seizure, or a black-out or collapse sometimes due to loss of blood pressure for several reasons. My start of chemotherapy stopped the function of my bone marrow which is reponsible for the contents in blood so I had to survive many complications while many transfusions kept the body working until the marrow recovered. Each time my body was up to the challenge and its system kept working (though a heart out of rhythm or afib is not working at its best). My bone marrow took about a year to get the platelet count to normal. My red blood cell count is still slightly below normal (so I deplete its oxygen quicker). My afib medication broke my thyroid and its hormone  replacement amount continues to get a periodic adjustment.

To call my survival a miracle denies the 3 factors. Denying the importance of me to my own survival is rather offensive. I have strived for a healthy life-style and every day I am involved in ensuring my own survival.

There is no miracle here.

created - Nov. 2019
last change - 11/06/2019

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