May the Watermelons be Plenty

Amidst all the news of Kanye dissing Taylor Swift (which, yes, it was rude, it should not start WWIII...Kanye has been an idiot for a while, his music pretty much rocks so let's move on) came news that Patrick Swayze had lost his battle with cancer.

And, this may sound weird, but it kind of gave me hope.

My grandmama died of pancreatic cancer in 1995. It is an ugly cancer, and took her about 6 months after she was diagnosed. They tried a round of treatment, but it was worse than the cancer. Soon after, my Aunt Helen was also diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She lived a year or so after diagnosis, and had a fairly decent quality of life. We even got to have a celebration of her life while she was still alive, which was a great tribute to her.

Swayze fought the good fight for 2 years. While the pictures show him having lost a lot of weight, he was still acting until not too long ago, which means his quality of life wasn't too bad. To me, this means that the medications have gotten better, that they have been able to tune the treatment in a way that the patients can live longer and feel better.

And this gives me hope, that while we may not cure cancer, treatments will continue to improve, and the quality of life for those fighting the disease. RIP Swayze.