Friday, November 7, 2008

A Serious Moment

On one of my last flights, I had an interaction with a passenger that went something like this:

He: "When did you get your thyroid scar?" Pointing at my neck.

Me: "Oh...about 10 years ago - I had half of it removed because of a tumor."

He: Pulling back the collar of his shirt to reveal a mean, ugly scar, several times larger than mine with stretched out skin. "Here's my scar - my thyroid cancer had spread to my neck, to my lymph nodes, and around my shoulders. But I survived!"

Me: After visibly flinching and saying "Owww" when he revealed his scar, I said, "Wow."

He: He held out his hand and we shook hands - a very powerful handshake. And he told me "Congratulations."

I've thought about that interaction several times over the past several days. My tumor was noncancerous. His wasn't. He could have died, but he didn't. He survived. He had a great attitude.

Life is precious.

1 comment:

Jen said...

Life is precious! It's amazing how sometimes we are so busy we take our gifts for granted. I'm glad you are ok!