Pigs Fly

You have probably heard the phrase “when pigs fly.” To most, this figure of speech is meant to describe something that is impossible. Here at 500 BC Foundry, flying swine go with the territory. They are, in a way, the inspiration behind this whole thing. Because when someone tells you something you want to achieve is impossible, we don’t want you to just take their word for it. We want you to go for it. (Unless of course it’s crazy enough to get someone hurt or earn you a Darwin Award.)

You see, the whole concept behind 500 BC Foundry apps and Bog is to provide a learning, healing and humor exchange to help people live full boar. A place to dig deep and discover strengths and talents you didn’t know have been there for you all along. I have a hidden agenda: I want to help people get into a new habit of listening to themselves. Why? First, you owe it to yourself to get to know yourself. Second: World, I owe you one.

Here is the backstory. A few years ago, I was rolling along in my mostly happy life as mother, wife, sister, friend, technology worker, when my youngest child was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. Shockingly, my tall, beautiful teenager learned that her ‘growing pains’ were actually bone cancer, and that as a high school freshman she was first going to have a port surgically implanted in her body with a tube into her heart for the delivery of chemo drugs; then she was going to lose much of her right femur (thighbone, the largest bone in the body), every hair on her head, and possibly her life. Forget the shyness of her first high school dance. Now the challenges were something no child should ever face.

I will never forget unbraiding her beautiful hair as clump after clump came out in my hands. Or how her teammate’s sister came right over and shaved her head that same night, telling her she was still beautiful. Months of chemo and extreme nausea followed, then a two-week break for surgery in which a third of her right femur was replaced with titanium and she was given an artificial knee. The pain was excruciating, but my brave girl rarely complained.

Her doctors said she would never again run, jump or play volleyball, a sport she loved and was quite good at. In other words, “when pigs fly.” As sick as she was from the chemo, and as painful as it was re-learning to walk, our quiet girl said, in no uncertain terms, that she was going to play again. Flying pigs? Why not? This granddaughter of a Marine believes in hard work. And miracles. Plus, our girl had serious backup. We had put up a website to keep family, friends, teammates, parents and teachers informed of her progress, and they were wonderfully supportive. Her high school coach was the only non-family member she wanted to see after her limb-salvage surgery. This fierce competitor was devastated to see what her young warrior athlete was battling. As sick as our girl was, she was grateful. Even so, cancer is isolating and terrifying, and chemo drags down the strongest.

Then something unexpected happened. A new ‘tribe’ was gathering just for our girl. Suddenly she was hearing from volleyball players and coaches from all over the world. The Penn State women’s volleyball team sent a signed shirt, ball and poster: “The sport needs you back. We are praying for you. We are proud of you. You are brave. You can beat this.” She was also added to numerous prayer chains from family members, friends of family, and people we’d never heard of.

Don’t ever tell us there are no angels. We met countless real-world ones on this unexpected life detour, from a healing priest and bad hospital clowns to hilarious nurse’s aides who chatted about wig preferences. The team from Make-A-Wish was simply phenomenal. They all had a simple agenda: help a young girl with the fight of her life.

Her Western doctors were tremendous, but we added Eastern and nutritional components to help boost her healing. We found a naturopath whose advice we followed to the letter — including drinking beet smoothies — now that’s dedication. We worked with an acupuncturist and went to a Korean spa for heat therapy (two tall white women stood out more than a little). The physical therapy was demanding, but our brave girl added her own workouts on top of it all. She was going to play again. Pigs were going to fly.

After eight months and nearly 100 nights of her freshman year spent in a hospital bed, our girl was declared cancer free. However, her immune system was severely crippled and she had lost at least 25%-30% of her bone and muscle mass from the chemo. She could work out with the team but had to be very careful not to shatter her still healing bone/titanium leg.

21 months after the grueling cancer battle began, our girl was cleared to play! There she was back on the volleyball court, running, jumping and blocking shots, laughing with her friends. Even if her hair was still not long enough for a ponytail, she was a ‘normal’ girl again — albeit one with courage and inner strength beyond measure. My daughter soared, along with those pigs everyone said would never fly.

Long before my girl got sick, history, mythology, psychology and storytelling were great passions for me. I studied Carl Jung in college and have been an avid reader of Joseph Campbell for years. I had stumbled on the period of 500 BC in a comparative religions class in college and have been fascinated ever since.

Many of the healing foods my girl ate to aid her recovery were also foods recommended by Hippocrates (460–370 BC), the father of western medicine. It was he who advised: “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” Parmenides (515–450 BC) claimed: “Give me the power to create fever and I will cure any disease.” Now many suggest heat therapy to aid curing illnesses, even cancer. Today’s New Age healing ideas were, for the most part, old news to the big thinkers of 500 BC.

Now 500 BC Foundry the company is here as a place to share timeless truths from the past and modern insights we’ve learned on the journey. We want to hear your stories, too. You never know who you are going to help here on this old planet. You will notice that humor is an important part of our 500 BC. That’s because life is serious enough already. As Oscar Wilde quipped, “Life is far too important to be taken seriously.”

A few parting thoughts on “the impossible.” Sometimes pigs can fly. Just ask Freya, Norse goddess of love and war for whom Friday is named. She was well known by 500 BC, riding through the sky on her flying wild boar named “Battle Swine” and wearing the necklace she got from those dwarfs (a story for another time).

Pigs can fly. Think about it…
“Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing.” — G M Trevelyan

A professor told American author John Steinbeck that he would be an author when pigs flew. When he eventually became a novelist, he started to print every book he wrote with the insignia “Ad astra per alas porci” (to the stars on the wings of a pig).

“Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.” — Marcus Aurelius

“Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.” — Jean de la Fontaine

“The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible.” — Arthur C. Clarke

“Without faith nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.” — Mary McLeod Bethune

“Nothing is impossible — some things are just less likely than others.” — Jonathan Winters

Here is my toast to all of you: May you live your life ‘full boar.’

Originally published at 500bcfoundry.com by Phelan.