You have something extra to give your friends because of what you are going through. You've developed sensitivities that enable you to reach out to others especially those who are just beginning to wage their own battle—to make their own decision to live.
To relieve another person's loneliness, to give hope that there's something to live for, is, we believe, what life is all about. It frees people from their own problems. That is perhaps the most valuable lesson we have learned from our patients: that happiness comes from the satisfaction of sharing with and helping others.
But before you can help others, you have to take responsibility for yourself and see that your needs are met. It requires tapping that reserve of spiritual strength you didn't know you had and using the power that is yours: to learn all you can about your illness, to reject outmoded attitudes toward cancer "victims," to determine by your own behavior how others will treat you, to make compromises where necessary, to take risks, to share tears or laughter with family and friends.
