There
Are Tomorrows
Jackie
K. Cooper
When
I was taking part in the Much Ado About Books Festival in Jacksonville,
Florida, I had the chance to meet Geralyn Lucas. Geralyn is the
author of the book Why I Wore Lipstick To My Mastectomy,
which deals with her fight against breast cancer and how she has
turned that into a positive thing.
My
wife and Geralyn had some long conversations about her illness
and how she has handled it. My wife is the principal of a school,
and three of the mothers of her students have breast cancer. She
talked with Geralyn about what she could do to be a positive force
in the children's lives and also be supportive of the parents.
While
I was listening to my wife and Geralyn talk, I flashed back to
my own mother's death from cancer more than forty years ago. I
had hoped by the time this many years had passed that there would
be a cure, but it seems there are more cases of cancer than ever
before. The difference is that cancer is no longer a death sentence.
When
I was signing books on Saturday afternoon at the Book Fest, I
sat next to author Jessica Speart. Jessica writes mysteries, and
she and I had some great conversations while we visited with the
public and hawked our books. Jessica mentioned she wanted to meet
Geralyn because she too was a cancer survivor. Later that evening
I managed to get the two of them together.
A
short while later a woman came up to me and bought one of my books.
She had me sign it for her son. She told me had been sick, and
she thought the book might cheer him up. After I signed it, I
told her I hoped her son would be alright. With tears in her eyes
she told me he had cancer, then she hurriedly turned away.
While
we were in Jacksonville, we were invited to a cocktail party at
the home of an architect and his wife. All of the authors from
the Book Festival were there plus some people in the community
who had been invited. Terry and I sat down and talked with a lady
who is a sports writer. Since that is our son's profession, we
were more than interested in her chosen career.
During
this conversation the lady mentioned that at one time she was
given only a few months to live. The diagnosis proved wrong, and
she is now healthy, but she said the prognosis of dying had given
her a new lease on life. She now is fearless and has even tried
sky diving (just like in the Tim McGraw song).
It
seemed that cancer victims and cancer survivors were everywhere
I turned. Brave people going on with their lives while living
in the shadow of this disease. I was stunned by the impact of
how many are still affected and how many are making a positive
result out of such a negative occurrence.
Geralyn
was right to wear makeup to her mastectomy. What she was saying
was that cancer was not going to erase who she was or how she
faced life. If anything, she was going forward into the future
with herself intact.
Cancer
is a hideous disease. I hate, detest, abhor it. But we are winning
the war against it, and people who are cancer patients are no
longer the victims they once were. When my mother was diagnosed,
it was a death sentence. But no longer is that necessarily the
case. There is hope; there is a future; there are tomorrows.
***
Jackie
K. Cooper was born in South Carolina and now lives in Georgia.
He is familiar to people living in the middle Georgia area as
the "entertainment man" since his entertainment reviews
run in newspapers and are shown on television there. His short
stories have been used as commentary on Georgia Public Radio.
He also keeps active appearing as an after dinner speaker for
various events.
Cooper
has lived an exceptionally interesting life and portions of it
were contained in his first book Journey of a Gentle Southern
Man. The journey continued in Chances and Choices.
Jackie's
first two books, Journey of a Gentle Southern Man
and Chances and Choices, were reprinted and published
by Mercer University Press in July 2004. His third book Halfway
Home was published by Mercer University Press in October
2004.
Cooper
is currently at work on his fourth book, The Book Binder,
which will be published in the fall of 2006.
Visit
his website, or email
Jackie.
©
Jackie K. Cooper