Peer into my soul,
if only for a moment,
and try to understand
the depths to which
cancer destroys the human spirit,
not just its body.

It is a deep, dark place.
And to get there,
you have to go

DOWN

DOWN

DOWN

because having cancer
makes you feel
lower than you ever have before.

It's a deep pit,
a bottomless void.

Your only company is
pain,
loneliness,
and fear.

You continually wrestle with the demons in your head.

The demons tell you that you will never make it.
Give up.
You will never know happiness.
You will never know love.

It's a black place to be.
A desperately lonely place.
A silent place.

When you are truly lonely,
silence is deafening.

Cancer is a thief.
It robs you of your innocence.
It robs you of time.
It robs you of feeling human.
It robs you of your will to live.
It takes everything from you.

You sit,
alone
afraid
weak
at the bottom of this place.

This hell.

And when you know
that you can take no more
you stretch out your arms
raise your head in the blackness,
and

you surrender.

And it this moment, the deepest, darkest moment of your life that even the tiniest bit of light is visible.

This tiny bit of light is

HOPE

and it can only be seen
once you have reached the very bottom,
when you raise your head
and look toward the top of this void.

You have given all you have.

It is acceptance.

It is not giving up.

It is giving in.

Giving in to a greater power.

The power of the human spirit

and of faith.

It is an awesomely powerful experience.

And the only way to find it
is to reach the very
bottom