Bounce back...

Inspiration

By: Don Lindsey.

Earlier this week, I received some news that is always hard to process. After fighting cancer on and off for as many years as I have, I often think that being told I have to deal with the disease again or having to take more chemotherapy should seem normal by now. Maybe it does seem normal, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not also terrifying.

I dealt with the news as I usually do. First, I tried to act as if it was just business as usual. After all, I am a cancer killer, that’s what I do but as the gravity of the situation caught up with me, fear set in. That fear led to anger, and I found myself being rude, snapping at friends and those who are my closest supporters.

Thankfully, my apologies were accepted, and my loved ones said they understood. I am not sure that I will ever understand the process I go through when I get this kind of news but what I can tell you is that the love and support I receive from these people is a key reason as to why I am still here after all these years. That support helps me go on when I don’t think I can, it helps me center my thoughts, gives me strength and always reminds me of why I keep fighting. Quite simply, that support helps me bounce back after being told that I am sick again with an illness that takes so many lives every day.

I’ve always been a baseball fan, but when I was a young boy, there was nothing more important to me than the game. Everywhere I went, I had a glove and rubber baseball with me, and every time I had a few extra minutes and a wall nearby, I would spend as much time as I had bouncing the ball off of it. I’d throw it with a spin in an attempt to make the ball jump off at a weird angle, making me work to get my glove on it. After a while, I figured out how to make the ball come back in a way that would help me field grounders, or pop ups. I always thought I was using the ball to work on my fielding, but it wasn’t until years later that I realized that the ball was using me to work on a skill that I would need later on in life. It was teaching me that when you hit a wall in life, you can bounce back, you can reset, and you can repeat the process as many times as it takes to improve yourself.

Sure, you’ll get scarred up from hitting the wall, but the important thing is that you’re still intact. You’re still alive to enjoy the world that God created. I try not to overstate my faith when writing these because it’s not my goal to preach, but what I can say is that for me the Lord, my family, and my friends are the support system that reminds me why I keep bouncing back.

My faith keeps me grounded in the fact that I know this world is only a pit stop and that what lies ahead after we are gone is eternal life with our creator. My family and friends keep me laughing and continue to show me the importance of loving someone and being loved. I can’t say where this next phase of my battle with cancer will lead me and I am not ignorant to the fact of how dangerous it is, but I do know that if there is any chance, I will bounce back.

Don Lindsey is a follower of Christ, son, husband, father, and a survivor. Originally from Dayton Ohio, and resident of Apopka for six years, Don sees his life as a dedication to his wife, parents, children,and community.