Dennis, Canada

Remission.  Such a beautiful word. 

#WorldCancerDay  

     Personally, I marked this day yesterday, by thinking of all the people affected.  And then by making the healthiest possible vegetable/bean soup, and a homemade whole-grain sourdough loaf for dinner. 

     It was just about 3 years ago when I sat with the cancer Doctor at the London clinic to hear that I had an incurable form of blood cancer - CLL.  The plan at the time was to "watch and wait" and treat as it worsened, as there was no advantage shown for early treatment in this type of cancer.  Fair enough - although I'm not much of a "watch and wait" type of guy haha! 

     I was already eating quite “healthy”, exercising daily and generally living happily and fairly stress-free, so I decided to go all in, adding “hyper-nutrition” to my daily living regimen.  I tried to read as many studies as I could find on food nutrition and any potential “cancer fighting” foods, plus looked into the work and results of food science researcher Dr. Li, and the methods of Dr. Brooke Goldner who cured her own Lupus as well as her patients' with her “green smoothies”!  

     I'm almost afraid of "jinxing" things here lol, but after about a year and a bit, I had gone into complete spontaneous remission.  No trace of it to be found in my bloodwork.  This only happens in about one half of one percent of CLL cases.  And I believe it was the first time this particular oncologist had seen it.  

     I think artistic inspiration can come from almost anywhere.  My favourite and best work as an artist and singer-songwriter has come from the fragments of shrapnel from some kind of explosive emotional event – good or bad.  In this case it just happened to be a medical diagnosis that no one wants to hear.  Went I got home after all the testing, my mind was reeling.  As I often do, I starting writing things down.  Feelings. Questions. Thoughts.  Even ideas about a decent obituary.

     When I took another look at my scribbling, I saw song lyrics.  When I picked up the guitar that was propped beside me I heard a melody.  A few hours later, the song "When Will It Be Okay" was born. (if interested you can find the song and video on Youtube by Jumbo Train)

     My biggest fear about releasing the song was that people would find the melancholy too sad.  But when I started receiving messages telling me that listeners were finding great joy, hope and comfort in the song – I cried good tears.

     Keep on fighting the good fight my wonderful friends... and living every moment with joy and love...