Holding Back

Holding Back

This I Believe: Don’t hold back on life. In early 2005 my closest grandparent, my grandfather on my mom’s side, was diagnosed with colon cancer. Our family took this as a major blow. We were very, very close to my Grandpa Jack and my grandma.

The doctors said they were very confident that the chemotherapy they were going to use would knock out the cancer and all would be well. It was just a matter of time. After 6 months of treatment my grandpa went back into the hospital to get re-tested to make sure the cancer was gone. When my I jumped into my mom’s black Ford Expedition after school that day, the news wasn’t what I wanted to hear- the cancer was still there.

After conferring with the doctors my grandpa said they were still confident that he could beat the disease. From July of 2005 for the next 6 months my grandpa would do anything he could to make sure if he passed away he would be happy.

My grandpa was always a very patriotic person and had never been to the nation’s capital before. My mom had an idea that she knew would just make my grandpa the happiest person in the world. We took a week vacation to Washington D.C. with my family and my grandparents in October of 2005.

The trip was not only one of the most fun vacations my family and I have ever taken, and it was that much better because my grandpa was there with us, and he was loving every second of it.

We went to the Capitol and took a White House tour that we knew he would love. I loved seeing my grandpa being so happy taking in all of the history of the nation he loved more than anything else.

Unfortunately that was one of the last exciting things he ever got to do. Every week, the outcome of the situation looked a little bit worse than the previous week. He was still going to fight as long as his body would let him.

On December 27th, 2005 my grandpa passed away. Our family was traumatized by his death but at the same time we knew it was for the best because he wasn’t suffering it any more.

When my grandpa passed away he knew lived an amazing life. He had lived with the philosophy what I learned from the whole experience: Don’t hold back on life. If you want to do something but don’t want to do it because it’s to much money, you might get in trouble, other people might think of you badly, do it anyway because you might regret not doing it later.