The Chilling Truth : Click this link to see the reality of someone living with ALS.
There are hundreds of horrible diseases inflicted on people every single day. All of them tragic and unbearable in their own right, all which leave behind an abundance of pain and sadness. There are so many things that can go wrong within the human body, that's its difficult to keep up with all of the diseases and what they entail. The harsh reality is that the medical industry would rather sell us millions of dollars worth of drugs to alleviate the symptoms, than actually try to find a cure.
Almost every person knows someone or has a family member experiencing one of these diseases. In my close family alone there is Cardiovascular Disease, Spinal Stenosis, Polycistic Kidney, and Dementia (to name a few). I have witnessed first hand how each of these has immensely impacted the lives of my loved ones as I fought to remain afloat with my own chronic condition.
There are so many bad things that go on in this world, but when your body becomes the prime target of mass destruction, it shakes the very ground beneath your feet more vigorously than an earthquake can. No one can ever be remotely prepared for the hurricane of emotions and anguish that overtake you upon hearing a diagnosis that determines your fate. In the blink of an eye, your entire existence is shattered all over the floor in millions of broken pieces.
You go through various mental stages when coming to grips with the reality of your disease. I myself went through years of denial, convincing myself I was invincible to surgery and that I controlled when my body would be sliced through. There will be a lot of people out there who will say holistic cures all, and if you just eat organic, the disease will magically dissipate. I will save my annoyance and further exploration of this topic for some other post, but I can say with certainty that nothing was going to stop my colon from looking like chewed up and spit out raw meat.
Going back to my main point, there does come a time after you are diagnosed where you come to accept that no matter how much it sucks, how loud you scream, or how deep of a pool your tears create; you have this disease, and it is sticking around for the long haul. All your left to do at that point is cope. You learn to live with the pain; physically, emotionally, and mentally. You learn to push yourself. You learn that while you may have absolutely no control over the storm that is raging from within your own body, you do have control over what you choose to do next.
For most people that is to spread awareness. Spreading awareness is the only control people who are inflicted with these horrible diseases can have. It is what gets us through the days where the pain is so great, we reach rock bottom and beg for death to set us free. It is for the days where we are overwhelmed with sadness and fear of the unknown. It is for the days where we feel if there is one last thing we can do in this world, we want to make it possible so that no other person will ever have to endure what we have.
So to some it may seem annoying and redundant, but spreading awareness is what keeps our hopes and dreams alive. For I know if we could all go back in time to the last day we felt healthy, before our fate was muttered by some doctor, we would bask in appreciation and linger in the magnificence of what it feels like to be disease free. Being healthy is a precious gift, and if you are lucky enough to be one of those people, you should never take it for granted. For you never know what tomorrow will bring, and you could very possibly find yourself on the other side fighting for you life with no other choice but to spread awareness.
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