Our daughters were young
women, graduate students at U of IL, when my cancer book was published. [1]
They were proud of their father, and were aggressive publicists for the book,
not only telling people about it but going to bookstores and turning it face outward,
and taking extra copies from the shelves to other sections of the store, so it
would be more easily and more often seen… and purchased.
This was in the midst of
the AIDS pandemic.
One night a friend told
them this story. “I was sure I had AIDS. I had all the symptoms, and I knew I
had engaged in activities that could get me the disease. I was so ashamed.
There was no one I could tell. I knew your father’s book wasn’t about AIDS, but
you had talked about it so much, I decided to get it. For the whole time, until
I got my test back, your father’s book was a support group of one for me.”
The collapse of support
groups is one of the problems of physical distancing in a pandemic. And the
Covid19 itself makes the need for support even more necessary. When I had cancer,
I went to a support group, and profited greatly from it, but I learned
something from that young friend of my daughters—you don’t have to go it alone,
even if you are alone. You can have a support group, even if it’s only of one,
even if it’s only a book. Better yet is a support group of one if that one is
God.
JRMcF
1] NOW THAT I HAVE
CANCER I AM WHOLE: Reflections on Life and Healing for Cancer Patients and
Those Who Love Them [AndrewsMcMeel]
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