Why I’m Extra Thankful for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Spending time with family, eating and drinking, and watching TV all day is pretty much my perfect day, so being encouraged, if not required, to do those things is all the better. My family has done pretty much the same thing every year for Thanksgiving, and even though it's nothing fancy, it is something I look forward to each year. I truly mean it when I say that I am thankful for Thanksgiving, the food I am able to eat, and the people I am able to spend time with on that day. However, Thanksgiving now has an extra special reason for me and my family to be thankful each year.

Two years ago, in early November, my uncle was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. This is a bad diagnosis, no matter what the details, but he was told that the severity of the situation could not fully be determined until he underwent surgery. After that, they would determine the appropriate approach for chemotherapy, radiation, future surgeries, and medications to give him the best chances . The initial surgery was scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving. Everyone was nervous, but hopeful and faithful that things would work out. Unfortunately, that did not end up being the case. That same day of the surgery, the doctors informed my uncle and his family that the cancer was so bad that they did not see any waay that they could help. They gave a bleak prognosis, indicating that he might not even make it until Christmas. They suggested that he go home to spend time with his family and do what he could to enjoy the time that he had left, rather than spend it in the hospital undergoing painful treatments that they felt would not make a difference in the end.

Needless to say, Thanksgiving that year was very difficult. I knew that I still had many things in my life to be thankful for, but there was just so much sadness and fear. In spite of the bad news, or maybe because of it, I was very grateful to be able to be around my entire family, including my uncle's parents who had come in from Canada. I was glad that my sister had been able to schedule a trip home from Denver for Thanksgiving that year, when she hadn't been planning to come. I was happy that my cousin had recently moved back to Michigan from California, and was there as well. And, though it was also an awful feeling, I was happy to go visit my uncle in the hospital, and make sure he saw as many of his family members as possible as he spent that Thanksgiving in a recovery room, rather than on the couch at my aunt's house.

A few days after that Thanksgiving, my mom ran into an oncologist who attends her church and whose children my sister and I grew up with at school. My mom explained what was happening with my uncle, and this doctor generously offered to make arrangements for him to enter an experimental cancer treatment program for patients who were diagnosed as terminal. The doctor made good on his word, and shortly thereafter, my uncle began treatments. In July of 2013, he was told that he was cancer free. Though the cancer has returned since then, it has remained controllable. My uncle is an incredible person, and has never once lost his positive outlook on the situation. This Thanksgiving will mark the second one that we have had him around for, when we were told there would be no more. And that is truly something that makes Thanksgiving a very special holiday for me and my family.

 

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Spending time with family, eating and drinking, and watching TV all day is pretty much my perfect day, so being encouraged, if not required, to do those things is all the better. My family has done pretty much the same thing every year for Thanksgiving, and even though it's nothing fancy, it is something I look forward to each year. I truly mean it when I say that I am thankful for Thanksgiving, the food I am able to eat, and the people I am able to spend time with on that day. However, Thanksgiving now has an extra special reason for me and my family to be thankful each year.