Profiles in Courage

Before he became President, John F. Kennedy served in the United States Senate.  He also wrote and published a biographical book called Profiles in Courage,  in which he describes "acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States Senators throughout the Senate's history. The book profiles senators who crossed party lines and/or defied the opinion of their constituents to do what they felt was right and suffered severe criticism and losses in popularity because of their actions." In other words, he told stories about people who displayed political courage.  Kennedy won the Pulitzer Prize for his book in 1955.  I'm sure this probably contributed favorably to his reputation and enhanced his political career, which culminated in his being elected President in 1960.

Political courage is something this country could use a lot more of these day. But somehow, I find it less impressive than the kind of personal courage some everyday people exhibit in the ways they face the challenges in their lives.  Some profound examples of that courage are members of my own family.

My grandmother, Jessie Keller Fouse, bore seven children who survived to adulthood. There were four daughters and three sons, one of whom was my father. She and my grandfather and their children did not have an easy life. For many years, my grandfather earned a humble living working as a sharecropper in east Texas. Despite the hardships that they faced, my grandmother could always find something to laugh about.  Along with a strong Christian faith, her recipe for chocolate pie, and a tendency toward big feet and big noses, my grandmother passed down another legacy, unfortunately a deadly one. That legacy is cancer.

Descended from the Ashkenazi Jews of Europe, my grandmother carried a genetic mutation known as the BRCA mutation, which is common among that ethnic group.  Women with this mutation "have risk of breast cancer that is about five times the normal risk, and a risk of ovarian cancer that is about ten to thirty times normal."  This grim statistic proved all too accurate for my grandmother and her daughters.  She died of cancer when she was in her early sixties.  All of her four daughters developed breast cancer, and three of them did not survive the disease.

Unfortunately, the incidence of cancer in my family did not end with my grandmother and her daughters.  One of my first cousins recently lost her battle with cancer, and there are others in the extended family who have also suffered from the disease.

My sister Robin has fought a long battle with cancer.  In 1995, when she was 38, married, and the mother of two young daughters, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She underwent a year of agressive cheom-therapy at that time.   The doctors used particularly strong medicine because she had developed the disease at such a young age.  She lost every hair on her body, including her eyebrows and eyelashes.  She also underwent several surgeries.  The result was that the treatments were succesful, and she began a long period of remission.

Then in 2010, she was diagnosed with a large abdominal tumor, and the chemo began again.  A few months later, after she passed out at home, she was diagnosed with two tumors in her brain.  She underwent brain surgery to remove one of the tumors and radiation to shrink the other. The treatments for her brain tumors were successful, and the doctor treating her for those tumors released her from treatment a few months ago, saying that she no longer had any sign of tumors in her brain.

She continues taking chemo-therapy for the abdominal cancer, and there has been improvement.  She will complete the latest round in a few months.  She is looking forward to the birth of her third grandchild very soon.  The baby is her first granddaughter, Adelaide Joy, just who Robin and her daughter Meghan were hoping for. She is looking forward to finishing the chemo and getting back to her plans to raise chickens and plant a vegetable garden.  Recently she has been working her in her flowerbeds, planting the annuals she loves so much.

Throughout her ordeal, my sister has experienced all the emotions you would expect. At times, when the effects of the chemo have been harsh, she has been depressed.  At other times, when those effects have lessened, she has been hopeful.  More than once when I have visited her, she has expressed concern about me, saying that she didn't want me too worry too much about her.  She once told me once that she would be fine because,  "God isn't finished with me yet."     

Throughout my sister's ordeal, our mother has been at her side.  She has accompanied her when she received her chemo-therapy, she has stayed with her at home to help her with everyday tasks, she has encouraged her and prayed for her.  After Robin's brain surgery, Mom spent several nights in Robin's hospital room, sleeping in a chair.  When I expressed concern for ability to do that, given her age and her own health concerns, she said, "I wouldn't be anywhere else."

A few weeks ago I spoke to my sister on the phone.  She had recently learned that her chemo would continue for awhile, and she was disappointed and discouraged.  However, she had found renewed courage, and she told me that she would do what she had to do.  "With Jesus' help, I can do this."  For both Robin and our mother, that faith has sustained them throughout this ordeal.

Facing your own mortality, or that of someone you love, is an excruciating experience.  When we are young, we imagine ourselves to be somehow immortal, or we believe that a lifetime is longer than we later realize it is.   As I have seen my sister deal with her disease and the potential implications of it, as I have seen my mother forget her own less severe issues to be be beside Robin in her fight, I have been amazed by their courage and their faith.  No one who faces such hardships does so without sometimes losing heart, and they have had their share of dark days.  I believe those dark days are part of an honest reaction to the hardships of life.  Sometimes life and its hardships seem too much to bear.  Sometimes we are overwhelmed with pain, grief, and wondering  "Why?"  These are part of being human, and God does is not surprised by such reactions.

However, people of courage and faith, people like my sister and my mother, don't get stuck in the dark days.  Somehow, they find a way to continue the fight, to face what they fear, to affirm that God loves them and that he is with them, even when things seem darkest.  To me, their stories are the truest profiles in courage.