Life hits hard

"It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward."

Life hits hard. It hits unexpectedly. It can throw you off your game, make your eyes water, make your knees buckle.

Everything started around Christmas. One of our employees lost her mother to a sudden brain aneurysm. She collapsed during an epic powder day. Then one of the owner's father had a sudden grand mal seizure out of the blue, something that never happened before. The doctors have been struggling to get the proper drug cocktail for him so he was in the hospital for days. An uncle, a man I think of before every hockey game I work, suddenly took ill and has been hospitalized off and on over the past few weeks. The initial scare was cancer but it turned out to gall stones. The initial operation took care of the pain temporarily but he was then hit with an infection and another gall stone attack. My father-in-law has been dealing with an ankle problem that can only be rectified with surgery. At best, he would be in a wheelchair for 2 months after the surgery and then a soft cast for 2 more months. The concern is that since he is in his 70's, surgery could be a challenge and the semi-worst case is that he would lose his foot.

Couple all of this with the news I got yesterday from my parents.

My mom and dad sold their Rialta with plans to buy an SUV and travel trailer. I have been looking for the appropriate tow vehicle for the past month or so. We were getting ready to purchase a truck when the call came in that we needed to hold off on any purchases until other things were figured out.

My father explained that Mom had been feeling short of breath. They finally went in and found that fluid had built up around her lung, essentially collapsing her lung. And then they found cancer cells in that fluid. So she was now scheduled for a bone scan to determine if anything else was going on and that she would need to start a low dose chemo treatment.

This all made me feel like my knees were going to buckle. My eyes were already watering from the sting. Dad was doing all the talking because Mom just wasn't in a place to talk right then.

During her first battle with cancer, she always listened to the soundtrack from Braveheart. It was music that lifted her spirits and set her mind on fighting the cancer that had grown inside her. She has still never seen the movie. She doesn't need to...she fought that battle in her head over and over and over.

Mom, I don't know what words can help. All I keep coming back to is this: "Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"

My Mom is a fighter. She will get her feet under her and she will walk forward into this with her head high. And all her family and friends will be walking by her side to help her fight this next battle.

Mom, there is a whole army ready to go to war with you.

Today is a big day. My uncle is in for surgery to have his gall bladder removed. My father-in-law is meeting with the doctors to make a decision about his ankle. My Mom is in for a bone scan to see what we are up against.

I wish all of us luck.