Rich

This is Rich... Rich is 18 years old and has been diagnosed with Leukemia. Leukemia is essentially cancer of the blood and bone marrow and is one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Yesterday Todd and I went to visit Rich and take him a couple pairs of tickets to his favorite band, Green Day.

The first thing that greets you when you enter the cancer unit at Primary Childrens Hospital is a set of giant steel doors. A press of a button opens one set of doors and reveals a small room with another set of large steel doors. You enter the room, allow the first set of doors to close behind you, wash your hands and call a nurse to open the second set of doors. The purpose of all of this is to keep outside air which could contain harmful pathogens from entering the cancer unit. Since the immune system is completely destroyed when cancer patients are undergoing chemotherapy, the smallest cold or virus could potentially be life threatening so the cancer unit uses only sterile filtered air. After walking through the second set of doors one of the first things I saw was a girl probably only 3 or 4 years old who was obviously undergoing chemotherapy. She had about 4 strands of hair on her little head and she was so skinny you could see most of her bones. She was playing with some of the dolls and toys that are spread all over the floors. I saw a few more small kids walking around as we went towards Rich's room, but I had to force myself to look away, there's really nothing sadder than seeing a little 4 year old girl with cancer.

When we walked into Rich's room he was watching Animal Planet on TV. On a table in front of him was a magazine propped up with Green Day on the cover, a bunch of get well cards and a few CD's. The room was dimly lit which just added to the glumness of it all. Rich laid in bed, he looked good for someone on his last day of chemotherapy. He had short buzzed hair (something most people loose) and seemed a lot livelier than most. He was skinny, however and you could tell that this once 6'3" deuce and a quarter kid had lost a considerable amount of weight and muscle. We gave Rich CD's, t-shirts, a hat and his Green Day tickets. We then talked for 20 minutes about how Green Day was by far his favorite band, how he owned all their CD's and what the meaning behind the name Green Day was. You could tell he was a happy camper. We then talked about Rich's life before and after cancer. It wasn't a happy story. After being in Rich's room for a little over an hour, the nurse came in to take him in for his last chemotherapy treatment of the month and we left.

If there was one thing I took from the entire experience it's that no one is guaranteed anything in life. A year ago Rich was playing guitar in a local band and going to high school. Now he's sitting through meetings where doctors tell him that he has a 50% chance of being killed by this, and a 30% chance of being killed by that. Rich knows there's a chance he won't make it, you can see it in his eyes but he still has hope. I think he'll make it. Being in the cancer ward forces you to realize that no matter how bad things seem to be in your life, you still don't have it that bad. As I was leaving the hospital, everything I had been worrying about the past few months seemed trivial and meaningless. I just wanted to do something, anything to help these people. It got me thinking maybe I'll go volunteer at a homeless shelter, or soup kitchen just so I can do something to help someone less fortunate. I came to the realization that compared to a lot of people in this world, I've got it about as good as it gets. I don't think I'll forget this experience anytime soon, I went into that hospital thinking one way, and left a little different. It's unfortunate that people have to live through this and I almost feel guilty saying thank you to him for helping me open my eyes to reality. I only wish I could be half as strong in life as he. It's been a long time since I've had a reality check like that.

Good luck Rich!