Measure of Strength

Strength is measured
not by mass of muscle
or size of body,
rather it is measured
by the resistance to failure,
by the will to go further,
to fight harder than the body allows,
and the never-dying will to live.
The strength of a person
is not seen on the outside
but felt on the inside of others
when touched from afar
without sight,
without a voice
without knowing.
This is how true strength
of a strong person
is measured.

1/20/12

The Fight of Her Life

You will not read about what I'm about to write on the news. The media only cares about 'celebrities' who have zero impact on our lives. What you are about to read is real. It's not taken from some stupid website asking you to "like" it if you're against cancer. This is true. This is real.

Tonight, a woman is losing her battle with cancer. A woman who did no wrong, never committed a crime, never hurt anyone, is laying in bed slipping away every minute that passes by. This woman is my cousin, your cousin, she is family and is loved by everyone who has ever known her.

Her name is Linda Iraci. She is a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a daughter, a sister and a fighter. I will not pretend to know what she has gone through the last few years fighting this disease because I do not know. What I do know is Linda has blessed her family with her love and strength. I am not a deeply religious man nor even mildly but I do believe God does things for a reason. This is one of those things I cannot understand completely, even minimally. During Linda's fight, sometime last year or more ago, she was told to go home and die. She refused. She won. The cancer was gone and she was able to meet her grandchildren last February. I heard from my mother a few weeks ago that Linda had taken a turn for the worse. The cancer had come back and had taken over. It is my firm belief that God himself gave Linda an extension on life. Maybe to see her grandchildren, maybe to say goodbye to her family or maybe to just be at peace with what was happening to her body.

Tonight, I sit here at my desk writing this with a million other things running through my mind, however, this is the most important. Linda doesn't deserve this, nobody does. Linda does deserve to be pain-free. Linda deserves to be at peace. Tonight, I think about her husband Danny and daughters Jessica & Rebecca. I pray for them to be given the strength to get through this difficult time.

Until now, most of you were probably sitting on your couch watching football (I was too) or playing with your kids or at a bar or in bed or just going about your normal Saturday night routine. If you have children, hold them and tell them you love them. Tell your wife or husband you love them and mean it, don't assume they know you love them. You never know if you will be in this situation yourself one day.

Now you know, someone is fighting for their life. This is not an uncommon story but it is uncommon to hear about it on the news. The media doesn't care about real people. Linda is a real person and she will likely never be known around the world. She should be.

Please keep Linda Iraci and her family in your thoughts and pray for her.
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Update 1-16-12: Linda has made her way to heaven. Pain-free and peaceful.