This is Cancer

He walks in, the cloths hanging off his gaunt body. How much he has changed since I last saw him. He looks tired; like a man who has been fighting for his life. He sits down next to his wife, a fleeting glance between them. Through out the conversation I can see his eyes tear up. The mask he has so generously put on for me cracking at the mention of certain memories, allowing me to see his true self. One that has looked death in the face and come back. At one point I catch his wife staring at him.  I can feel the love radiating from her. The sadness and uncertainty in her face. To know the man she loves, the father of her children almost died, still might die. She is fighting as much as him. He tips his head back voice shaky trying to compose himself before going on. As we leave he gazes longingly, wishing to show some sign of gratification for us coming. But he can’t the chemo has weakened him. A shell of his former self but the original is still there fight, preserving. We leave and I think this is not a single event. This happens almost daily, this happens all over the world, this happens to everyone. This is cancer.