I never thought I would use joy and cancer in the same phrase.

A few weeks ago while waiting my annual stress test, I sat next to a delightful woman with a British accent.  Her granddaughter, 32 years old, was by her side agitated and in tears.

She was upset because the nurse asked her to fill out a form that among other things wanted to know whether she was pregnant.  Her grandmother later told me her granddaughter couldn’t have children.

She had terminal cancer with anywhere from six months to five years to live and her ovaries were removed because the cancer was spreading.

While she was having her tests, her grandmother spoke in such a loving and caring way that it was inspirational.

Her granddaughter married five years ago when the cancer was first discovered, and her husband was still by her side as supportive as ever.

She wanted to be a writer someday so that instead of dallying any longer, she started a blog to document the feelings she was having as she faced her own mortality.

Sick and taking a course of chemotherapy, the young girl flew to Europe with her grandmother to attend a wedding in London.  On the way home she got so sick an ambulance had to meet the plane at the gate in Atlanta where she spent another week in a hospital.

You get the point.

This poor girl was happier than most people that surrounded her because she valued and lived her life, overcame her difficulties and lived in the present one day at a time because she had no other option.

I have always wondered how people with significant and/or terminal illnesses can be so happy when those of us blessed to be otherwise healthy could struggle with happiness.

Now I know the answer.

This girl with pancreatic cancer is living one day at a time and it is working out better for her than for those of us who live like tomorrow is guaranteed.

What a gift I received that afternoon.

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