Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Celebrities with cancer

Watched a lovely concert by Kylie Minogue the other night. She looked fabulous, seemed energetic, able to throw her arms around, which is giving Jan trouble at present after removal of underarm lymph nodes. So we took heart.

It seems Kylie was one of the first to openly admit to having breast cancer, before that it was something of a taboo. She has probably helped no end to demystify and make the disease more normal. Only snag is she was wearing a wig. I'm sure that was for the show and not that her hair had yet to recover after treatment! http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity/Kylie+Minogue-8117.html.

She reports that cancer has had some positive experiences. She says "“What I believed before my illness has only been enhanced since, and that’s that beauty comes from within." http://fametastic.co.uk/archive/20071008/7962/kylie-minogue-cancer-utterly-changed-how-i-think-about-my-body/

As Christians we agree with Kylie, but would say its more that God uses cancer to refocus one's direction, and make one more loving to others - same as Kylie's "beauty within".

Another famous encouragement is Lance Armstrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Armstrong He is one of my son's heroes, as he recovered from testicular cancer that had spread to his brain, yet went on to win the "Tour de France" cycle race seven times in a row. He inspired my son who races cycles internationally, and started his DVD business selling DVDs of Lance's exploits. His DVD store in at http://www.classicmoviestore.com

Lance does great work to raise cancer awareness here

Both these folk give encouragement that cancer need not be the end. It also shows something of power of mind. Those who rise to top in their very competitive careers have the mindset to not give way to cancer. I also see this in medical trials where placebos are so often effective!

I don't want to go too far into "Power of Positive Thinking" as we believe Jesus is the power healing Jan, but it does show the need for a positive attitude full of praise. Jan has some of these characteristics, after all she won in a competitive field to marry me! She interrupted me last night to show me how far she could now raise her arm, still in pain after lymph node removal.

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