I had an absolute blast this weekend with my brother, Clint and my father, Robert, at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. We had so much fun, doing everything from going out to dinner to even playing games at a local arcade. It was great to see how much fun we all had, but especially for my Dad. The past 6 years have been a rough ride for him, to say the least. Not only did he have a long battle with depression because of being diagnosed with Parkinson's, he recently went through an extremely difficult time with Melanoma (skin cancer), or so we thought. My Dad had been to see a dermatologist a few months ago because of a few discolored spots on his forehead and arm. While the ones on his forehead were harmless, the spot on his arm resembled the exact image of a melanoma cancer spot. I remember being home the last weekend of April, when Dad was still waiting for the test results on whether or not he had cancer; while he tried to reassure me he was positive, I could tell he was scared......who wouldn't be?
Thank God the results came back negative, but apparently during those weeks of waiting, and after hearing his test results, Dad had an "awakening". I know this because he told Clint and me about 50 times over the past 4 days!!!
Now I am sure that many of you have had a parent, friend, cousin, etc. that went through something very similar. It's almost impossible to even imagine how they are feeling.
But I have to say, it was really admiring hearing how positive and passionate my Dad is, especially after knowing that he is cancer free. I could just hear in his voice how he was going to start living life differently and wasn't going to let anything hold him back.
I witnessed this first hand, just from the way he was walking. With Dad's type of Parkinson's, he suffers from "gait" which is where he drags his right leg. For years it has been very difficult for him to walk from his bedroom to the kitchen. But, with his new "awakening", he has now lost weight, weighing less than he has in 20 years, and has been walking 3 miles everyday for the past couple of weeks!
It's truly inspiring when we convince our mind and bodies that we can do whatever we want!
Always Keep Smiling!
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Thanks for sharing! That is awesome to hear that your dad is not letting this hold him back - walking 3 miles is awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteMelanoma is the most preventable and easy detectable cancer! Everyone, even those who think they do not have "moles or freckles" should go see a dermatologist once a year!