My dad has Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. He was diagnosed earlier this year and it has changed our family forever. He is the one who fills our lives with laughter daily; and he alone can make you smile on your worst day with his unique sense of humor. He sat me down the day he told me he had lung cancer, of course being the youngest and only daughter, I was the last to know. I'll remember that day for the rest of my life. I remember my first response was "What's the next step?" He looked at me with his relaxed usual care-free smile and simply said "We'll see..." That's how amazing my dad is. He doesn't take this diagnosis as defeat! He takes it like any other battle or obstacle; he smiles and keeps going. That's what I want other people battling alongside someone fighting lung cancer should know: Keep going, keep fighting! Don't give up and fight together... I could tell you how many roadblocks we've hit; from his tracheostomy tubes, ER trips or his 12 Rounds of the strongest chemo dosages. But I'm not going to concentrate on that! I'm going to tell you how he is one of the only people joking and laughing at his chemo sessions! The way he makes his doctors and nurses laugh, or the funny bandanas he wears for jokes to cover the side effects of his chemo. I'm going to share the fact that my dad continues to smile and make people laugh even though he faces the biggest challenge he's ever faced. So again, please keep fighting, and never ever give up! Fight for your family and fight together. I'm sharing this picture of my dad during one of his chemo treatments. I hope his smile encourages and brightens another person's day like he does mine.
