Anyone with a family member affected by the horribly random curse that is cancer knows the importance of having the will to get through the surgeries, the scans, the uncertainties, the chemotherapy.
ESPN’s Stuart Scott has been fighting cancer since 2007, and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times recently has penned a profile that will inspire thousands to continue a fight that at times can rob the patient of the will to persist.
Scott finds his drive from intense workouts, embracing the routine and ignoring the details of a disease that has returned twice before.
“I never ask what stage I’m in,” Scott told Sandomir. “I haven’t wanted to know. It won’t change anything to me. All I know is that it would cause more worry and a higher degree of freakout. Stage 1, 2 or 8, it doesn’t matter. I’m trying to fight it the best I can.”
A courageous public battle like Scott’s can help so many others continue their own private efforts to push toward a cure or to at least live their remaining days without obsessing over the inevitable.
Best wishes to Stuart and his family as he continues the battle, and best wishes to anyone else who must find a reason every day to get out of bed and continue to beat back cancer. Just doing that is in many ways a victory.