Sad News, Good Memories

My Cousin Harold

Got news last night that my cousin Harold has been diagnosed with lung cancer that has metastisized to his lymph nodes. Not a good diagnosis. He has started treatment hoping to reduce the size of the tumor that is causing him a lot of pain. He is having difficulty breathing, which can be very scary. Harold is probably around 61 years old, but I don't think of him as being that age.

I remember Harold as he was in high school, working at the dimestore soda fountain giving me a coca cola made from real coca cola syrup and fizzy water in a tiny little coca cola glass. I remember him giving me rides on a bicycle down to where the railroad tracks crossed the road near my grandparents house. I remember him driving me and my fifty million other small cousins to see movies at the nearest movie theatre that was fifteen miles away, packed three or four deep, oldest to the youngest, on the bench seats of his father's car. I remember sending goody boxes to him when he was in the infantry in Vietnam. I remember his kindness to all of his myriad cousins and his joy about being a father. I remember his patience at still being called Little Harold even when his uncle Harold had passed away 20 years ago!

I am saddened, worried about him and his family and his brothers Don Ralph and Bob, hoping that he will be the one in a million to have remission. I work with a gentleman that had a similar diagnosis with inoperable lung cancer and survived to be cancer free, so I know it happens. I pray it will happen to my cousin. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.