How does one thank that one person or group of people who were there through thick and thin for you as you navigated your way after a breast cancer diagnosis? I personally don’t have the slightest idea. I know that each person’s situation is truly unique and what we do with regard to including people on our journey is equally unique. But, for me, my husband, Kirk, was the be all and end all and there will never be any way that I could find to show him what his help and support and dedication meant to me.“…a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about the difference it made that I had someone so loving and caring and giving right beside me through those times and beyond.”
Barbara Jacoby
I am a very private person in many ways and I did not want to include others in what I was facing. Therefore, the one and only person who I would have around me was him. I didn’t need anyone else. I knew that whatever I needed, he would get. Whatever needed attention, he would take care of it. No matter if I needed something from the drugstore or from anywhere else, he was on top of it. And he was also the one who came up with ideas to make me more physically comfortable or mentally busy. He thought of things that I would never have considered so how did I ever come up with a way to ever pay him back? Never did nor no idea how I could ever do so!
I know of others who also had support beyond belief. One of my friends told me about all of the women from her department at work who took turns delivering dinner to her home for her and her family for weeks on end while she was going through her treatment and recovery. Others have told me about how their family members all pitched in to take care of their children on a full-time basis so that the women could have some peace and quiet and their husbands could continue to work their regular jobs. Still others have explained how teams of friend gathered together to take their friend to the doctor’s appointments and did the shopping and helped with the housework and ran just about any other errand that was needed. Of course, we all agreed that there was no way that a person could ever begin to find a way to repay such help and love and caring.
The one thing that we all agreed upon was that it took some mighty special people to reach out and help us on this level. This support can only come from people who know how to love and to care, not only for others, but also about others. They have reached out and given of their time and efforts and resources but most of all, they have given of themselves. I know that I certainly do not have in my vocabulary the words to express my gratitude to Kirk and have not been able to find anyone else who has been in the same situation who has found them either.
No gift of any size or financial value could ever do the job either. I know that even though my journey of surgeries and treatments ended awhile ago, a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about the difference it made that I had someone so loving and caring and giving right beside me through those times and beyond. And even after all of these years later, I still haven’t come up with any way to every repay him for what he did. The only thing that I do know that I could possibly say is thank you, now and always, and that I couldn’t have done it with you.
Barbara Jacoby is an award winning blogger that has contributed her writings to multiple online publications that have touched readers worldwide.