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This is why I relay

I relay for my dad

Why I Relay
Relaying for me is a very personal experience. My dad was diagnosed with stage III esophageal cancer in 2004. I was only 19 years old at the time and quickly got familiar with cancer. My dad was committed to beating his cancer, but esophageal cancer is one of the deadliest cancers. It is also rare, making it hard to find others going through a similar experience. Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery were all used to treat the cancer but in the spring of 2005 it became clear that this cancer would not be cured. Dad was determined to teach my siblings and I how to take over his blueberry farm before he died. We spent the summer with him in the fields watching the berries grow. Dad was the happiest in the fields and was determined to live to see the crop come off. And he did, the crop came off in September 2005 and my dad was there to see it all.
On October 5, 2005, almost exactly a year after dad was first diagnosed my family and I surrounded my dad's bed, held his hands, recounted memories and told him that we loved him as he took his last breath. Watching my fiercely independent father deteriorate from the effects of cancer was a traumatic experience, which isn't easy to describe. Cancer has taken so much from our family. My dad didn't live to see me get married or have kids. I make an effort to ensure my daughters, Abigail and Emmerson, know who their Grampy Wilson was, they each have a "Grampy Wilson" teddy bear made from my dad’s favorite shirts. He is a presence in their lives but, they will never really know just how proud he would have been of them. They won't know what it feels like to be embraced, cuddled and spoiled by their Grampy Wilson. Over five years after dad passed, I can't believe how much he has missed and how different things would be if he were here. This is why I relay.

 

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