‘Some Passion, Some Compassion, Some Humor, and Some Style’ — What More Does Any Life Need?
Tolstoy was a firm believer in the existence of “a tiny and brilliant light” burning in the heart of humankind. “There is something in the human spirit that will survive and prevail,” he wrote, “no matter how dark the world becomes.”
Today being the 5th anniversary of my having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer — on Valentine’s Day, 2011 — it seems to me as good moment as any to remember Tolstoy’s fundamental optimism. After all, I am alive. Yet the 5-year survival rate for anyone diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is just 6%.
There are those who hold that, since for humankind as a whole times are getting tougher, we need correspondingly tougher mindsets to ensure that we go beyond mere survive to thrive. Cancer survivors are just a subset of the whole; in this turbulent 21st century we have brought upon ourselves, I greatly fear that we are all going to need to be survivors!
But enough of merely surviving. Let us now consider how best to thrive.
Personally I always cherished and admired the irrepressible flair of the author Maya Angelou in this regard — “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style.”
No one ever said it better.
The desire to thrive rather than merely survive brings me to the life-changing results of a CT scan that I received just two weeks ago, results which — to cut a long story short — appeared to demonstrate that, even after six months of one of the fiercest chemotherapy treatments used anywhere to combat pancreatic cancer, the renewed malign activity that was detected in the Summer after a 4½-year respite was continuing undaunted.
In such circumstances, the logic of thriving vs. surviving is clear: if intense two-weekly treatments with 5 chemotherapy agents cannot halt the cancer after half a year, then a “chemo holiday” is immediately in order. Suffering for no health gain makes no sense. Time to thrive!
So I have been able at last to rejoin my wife full-time in the Nepali capital Kathmandu where she has the honour to serve as Denmark’s Ambassador to Nepal. Free of the incapacitating nausea of constant chemotherapy, I have been able to resume reading, writing, and preparing the forward-looking technology keynotes which act as the gymnasium in which I keep my wits in shape. Ironically, since medically speaking it is the exact opposite, it truly is like getting a new lease of life. (Perception is all, right?)
In short, I am enjoying every last minute of my new-found freedom from medical treatment. Let us hope I shall continue to do so for a goodly long while yet — and that, à la Angelou, I shall do so “with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style.”
Happy Valentine’s Day, one and all.
