An inspirational walk taken

By JAMES BROWN
Glasgow Daily Times

May 10, 2008 04:53 pm

— Cancer may not run in my family because there have been only a couple of instances that I can recall where family members have had cancer.
That doesn't really matter because when I stood on the track at Glasgow High School on Friday night and watched the survivors and their family members round the lanes, I realized how many people I know in this community who have been affected by cancer.
Some situations were more serious than others. When I write serious I only mean that technically, as in, at what stage the cancer had progressed before being diagnosed and treated.
Mortality can hit you square sometimes. Standing on that track, leaning over the fence, was one of those times.
It hit me, not from personal experience, but from empathy. Those emotions can be powerful. The lights turn to star bursts. The people move in a blur and your thoughts run to people you know, or have known.
There have been two recent situations where cancer was involved, or at least tumors.
I don’t want to speak for the family of Dr. David Fant, whom many people know. For those who don’t know him, he has two daughters — one who will graduate from high school this month and another who is a junior in high school.
He was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor last week. I’ve not heard if it’s cancerous, but a tumor is bad enough.
As a friend of mine, who had been with Dr. Fant and his two daughters in Louisville during the week, relayed his condition to me via cellphone, I tried to think of the good things to say. All I could say was that there’s always hope for the best possible outcome.
When I saw the eldest daughter at T.J. Samson Community Hospital later in the week, I basically couldn’t speak. I just listened and marveled at how strong she is to be so young. I couldn’t help but hope that my daughter grows up to be just like her. But I also hope my daughter doesn’t have to go through what Charli has in order to be so strong.
That was the moment of mortality this week.
The second has been the death of a man in Diamondhead, Miss.
He was the father of my uncle by marriage.
They had a house with a pool and they would have July 4 crawfish and crab boils each year. He would let me come down, eat, swim and be merry. Always super nice to me and he didn’t have to be.
Mr. Willett was a funny guy with a dry sense of humor. When I first met him, I wasn’t sure how to take him. But he was always good to me.
He had been diagnosed with cancer last year and died last month. I was unable to make the trip to Mississippi for his funeral service. He was cremated. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted his ashes sprinkled into the Pacific Ocean. He enjoyed the water.
Mr. Willett and Dr. Fant have something in common. They’re people who have been nice to me for no other reason than that’s how they are as people.
Super, is what they’ve been to me and that means more than anything.
James Brown is editor of the Daily Times. He can be reached by e-mail at jbrown@glasgowdailytimes.com