I spent an hour yesterday walking on the COH grounds with Christine. It's good to see Christine out of the hospital. After 63 days, now staying in the cottages as she recovers.
To think she only had about a 30% chance to survive because her bone-marrow match was a partial one, but, right now it looks like she is doing just that. Her family have been to hell and back with all this but have been sustained by their deep faith.
As we slowly walked around (had to do it after sunset because she can't be exposed to the sun) she, wearing a heavy-duty mask to keep out bacteria and germs, marveled at a cottontail rabbit, a squirrel, and even a large spider we saw dangling in front of us. She chose to leave the sidewalk to walk on the grass just to feel it beneath her feet, even through her shoes. All of these sights and sensations gave her instant pleasure.
While the rest of us are stressed to the max just getting through our daily lives, Christine is teaching us how to live and appreciate the small yet important things. Along with other cancer warriors, her story and her writings from her first transplant will be in a book, Writing for Wellness.
The book will hopefully find a publisher soon. I believe that the method developed in the writing class at City of Hope is a good one and one that can help many, many people as they and their family members go through the "cancer experience" which mostly, today, includes survival, thank God.
-Julie D
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