Hero: a person, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.
Growing up our heroes all differed, for some of us it was our parents, Spiderman, teachers or even Beyoncé. As we grow older I think we come to realize that our heroes change throughout our life. As we go through the phases of our life we gain heroes, we witness people go through traumatic things and from that we learn from them and base the life we live off of how they react…Growing up my parents were my heroes (and always will be), everything they did I envied and I wanted to do things to reflect what they did and to make them proud. I wanted to base my life off of the way they lived theirs. I wanted to make them proud and to be a hero just like they were.
As I’ve grown older I’ve come to realize we have many heroes in our lifetime, peoples character shows through as they go through challenges in their lives and overcome them. The way people approach these challenges is where their inner hero comes out.
My Papa was diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma back in 2011 where he withstood chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries, as well as many spinal biopsies and agonizing procedures. My grandfather had many ups and downs going through the process of fighting cancer…there were good days and there were bad days. What do you expect he was fighting for his life…My grandfather took every day as a new chapter, he continued to fight his hardest with such a positive attitude and his one goal of fighting was so he could stay around for his loving wife and family.
Watching my Papa fight cancer I came to realize I had but yet one more hero in my life, and that was him. Through his perseverance to survive and stay with his family his true colors came out. In the early months of 2011 my grandfather fought for his life, he drove back and forth to Lahey Clinic every day to receive his chemotherapy and radiation. He stayed strong and never weakened throughout the many months he was fighting, this was honorable to watch.
We received happy news in the month of May, my grandfather was in remission. His fight had paid off and he was now free of cancer. My grandfather went about his life the same way he did prior to cancer, like any person would. He played golf, went to church on Sunday, and spent as much time as he could with his family. My grandfather’s generous heart brought the family together, he would do anything and everything for his family and I truly honored that value he had.
It was the beginning of this year when we found out my Papa had cancer again, this time it was Leukemia, and this bout with cancer seemed more powerful than ever. He had the choice to fight or allow the cancer to take its toll on him, of course my Papas decision was to fight and that’s what he did and is still doing. On October 8th we celebrated my Papas 78th birthday, another year older and another year of being my hero.
My Papa is not only a fighter, he is the most generous, kind-hearted, loving man you will ever have the privilege of meeting. Watching someone I love so much go through something as tough as cancer truly shows you their character as a person. You can look at something in a negative view and have a negative experience, or you can look at it in the most positive way you can and go day by day and take what life throws at you.
My Papa is my hero, and I am privileged to say that. I am happy to have been able to grow up with such an influential person in my life and I will continue to aspire to be the best form or myself in honor of my Papa.
Love you Always Papa