I've never felt as though my body betrayed me by getting cancer. Something was out of balance. Was it an imbalance of chi, as Chinese medicine holds, the environment being seriously out of balance, my hormones, genetics? So far, no one has the definitive answer. My body has always done what I've done ... the best it could with what it had. I have had some really awful things to deal with since cancer, but I've also intentionally attracted very gifted, intelligent and caring people to assist me to heal, and for that I'm ever grateful. I'm not fighting like hell — personally, that's never been my take on this situation. I do the best that I can with what I have.

Sent by Nancy K. Clark | 9:51 AM ET | 10-04-2006

Putting it all in perspective is sometimes hardest. Instead of asking, "Why me?", Michael J. Fox responded, "Why not me?" when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. I think about that a lot when I start feeling sorry for myself. There are so many more terrible diseases, like Lou Gehrig's Disease. I have cancer. There is hope for a cure and treatment options so many other diseases don't offer. In the realm of all things considered, I might even say I'm lucky all I have is cancer when you look at all the possible incurable or untreatable diseases out there.

Sent by Debbie | 9:54 AM ET | 10-04-2006

Leroy,

You wrote: "Is it part of a plan? Is there a reason? I can give the medical reasons, but that's not what Troy is asking. And this is where it all comes down to what we believe. Is there a plan for us? Is that plan something that we can understand? Clearly, those questions can only be answered in terms of faith, or lack thereof. I don't think I'm being punished, I don't think I did anything to deserve my cancer. There are so many things that we cannot understand"

Leroy, our faith is based upon what we don't understand. It is part of the duplicitous design of nature — i.e. right and wrong.

You say that there are many things that we cannot understand. I say cancer is not one of them. I am confident that I know the reason for cancer and I need to get it out. However, I need to pay the mortgage also.

Let me give you an example. Cancer is part of the Plan just as is the reason why roses have thorns.

Every problem has a solution. When a problem defies solution, a rule or law is at stake.

Sent by Edward L. Floyd | 9:29 AM ET | 10-05-2006

Here's another thought related to the discussion about "why": "It is not for us to choose our burdens but for us to bear our burdens well."

However we "finish," we should strive to finish well.

Sent by David Hahn | 9:33 AM ET | 10-05-2006

I don't know who betrayed what or what if anything is to blame. (whispering) Sometimes when no one is looking, I cry. I cry because, like a child, I have no way to understand this ... but it is my life, the life I was given and I will live it.

I met yesterday with a group of physicians to maybe try a new treatment. I asked what we are expecting from this procedure. He looked at me rather humbly and said if all went well, I could maybe have 700 more days of life. I wanted to jump up and scream, "I'll take it." Life has become so precious to me ... mine, of course, but also the lives of others. I cry when the jetliner crashed, when the PA shootings occurred, when the bodies were found in the Sonoran desert. Life is so short and yet so sweet. If someone thinks I am self-indulgent for crying for myself, well so be it. How do I account for a God who feels suffering when a sparrow falls to earth and his child is dying of cancer? I do not know. I only know this is the life which I have been given and it is the life which I will live. I must remember to give back along the way. It is not at the level I once contributed, but it is still important.

Sent by Cherie Brown | 9:37 AM ET | 10-05-2006

I don't think that things happen for a reason. I think that things just happen. There's a lot of serendipity/chance/right time-right place/wrong time-wrong place in life. If I thought that my life were pre-ordained, then I wouldn't feel like I had any control over it (and through cancer, I've learned that I have less than I think, but I can make a lot of choices that affect how I live my life).

Sent by Leslie | 9:42 AM ET | 10-05-2006

So very well said! Thank you.

Sent by Karen | 9:46 AM ET | 10-05-2006

After one of the tragedies of recent years, NPR ran an interview with a deeply wise rabbi from Silver Springs, Maryland, whose name I did not catch. He said that we are a species of "retroactive meaning makers," and that by our responses to an event or challenge, we *create* meaning. That is different than things being part of a plan, but it is a capacity we all have to choose our reponses — and the meanings we create — with conscious, constructive and caring intentions. I also feel that while I would not have invited cancer into my life these several times, it has never failed in the process to lead me to amazing people, insights and a sense of shared experience. I hope others are able to find (or manufacture) gifts and meaning from their own individual journey. And I think my body works very hard to protect itself from threats. I thank it for this fight, and honored the departed organs that have needed to be removed. I don't think my body betrays me — it is working all the time to renew and heal itself. I think that the way we *frame* our thoughts about cancer and our bodies, matters.

Sent by Sarah Knorr | 12:24 PM ET | 10-05-2006

Thanks to all of you, and sarah — a special thanks! The Rabbi (Rabbi Kurshner) who wrote When Bad Things Happen To Good People stated the same, especially when we are handed situations. It is what we do with them that is important. I don't want to say thank you for cancer, but I will admit that without it, I would not have been able to feel so much from so many.

Sent by Meredith P. | 11:29 AM ET | 10-06-2006