Don't Mess with Meg

A few weeks ago, I remember having a pretty rough day. I was lying on the couch and not feeling my best. Meg and I were talking and she looked into my eyes and said, “I would amputate my left leg if it meant you wouldn’t have to go through this.”

Talk about true love! For those of you that don’t know Meg, she is loving, compassionate, and caring. She welcomes all, friend or foe, with a warm heart and a big smile. She is also loyal to a fault. The scary thing is I knew she was truthful about her previous comment and realized at that moment she would do anything for me.

This past Saturday after flag football, we headed to our favorite local watering hole and the place where we met! For most of the day, I had been feeling well. We enjoyed the nice weather and a few beverages (diet cokes for me). Finally, it was time to walk a few blocks back to the apartment.

For those that don’t see me day in and day out, the cough has still lingered and can create fits in the morning and on exertion. Walking home this past Saturday was no exception. I was coughing forcefully, pausing every 20 yards to just catch my breath. Holding my hand, Meg was doing everything she could to comfort me. The bar was only 4 blocks from our apartment. With just a short distance to go and passing the last restaurant, I finally had to stop and bend over. While coughing vigorously, I overheard 4-5 gentlemen on the restaurant deck coughing on purpose in a mocking fashion. I immediately thought to myself, what a crime? I knew I couldn’t do anything about nor could I muster up the energy to confront them. Do you they have any idea what I’m going through? Do they know what’s it like to be a cancer survivor, go through chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries, and all the side effects that accompany a diagnosis both physically and mentally? At the same time, I thought do they know who they are messing with?

Before I could even look up, Meg marched right up the stairs to the restaurant deck. Outraged at what she had witnessed, she went up there with fists clinched and guns blazing demanding an apology. In just a few seconds, she managed to give them a glimpse into our life, the life of a 26 year old facing stage IV lung cancer, a non-smoker, facing a horrendous disease and she demanded an acknowledgment that there actions were inappropriate. While the confrontation did not escalate to a physical one, the large group of men I think were shocked. Luckily, our other friend pulled Meg away, but they definitely learned their lesson – don’t mess with bull or you’ll get the horns.

Thousands of cancer survivors have side effects or symptoms that mount to physical manifestations in some form or another for the world to see. We have bald heads, numerous scars, chemo ports dispensing our medicine, or a vigorous cough. The stares, mocks, or simple attention by clueless outsiders is just another reminder how much education is needed around a disease that suffers from such a bad stigma. This post is not for others to feel sorry for myself or Meg. It is not the first time and certainly will not be the last we will have negative attention. I’m just grateful that I have a bull in Meg that will march into a crowd of men twice her size or do anything in my defense. Again, this is not about me or Meg, but our goal to educate the masses, even if it is just one person or one group at a time.