Good Morning Leroy,

This blog that you write has sustained me also. Everyday. Through moments/days/weeks/months that are sometimes unbearable, and I feel strongly compelled to give up.

However, every day, I want to check in with you, see how you are doing. Read how other people are doing. This is an amazing community. I feel strengthened by it. By you, and by all the other people who post, and the people who are reading, whether they post or not.

This is a life gift.

Thank you for doing it.

You matter, and you make a difference for good in this world.

Peace,

Kim

Sent by Kim | 7:43 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Absolutely awesome this morning Leroy. And congratulations are the blogs 2 year anniversary approaches. Defy the odds! Live until you die! Make the most of each and everyday!

Keep writing!

Sent by Sue Chap | 7:47 AM ET | 05-28-2008

well, congratulations on the 2 year blog anniversary Leroy! I for one have been very grateful for this blog. Thank you!

Sent by Jenn | 8:04 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,

I think I speak for everyone when I say I hope to be reading this blog for a very, very long time! (And mostly blogs about how you are doing fun things, keeping cancer at bay).

I hope everyone else here - those names I read often and for whom my imagination have added details you can't (age, general appearance, voices) - are still there with me in the future too.

Liz L.
(curly dark haired reader)

Sent by Liz L. | 8:07 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Dear Leroy,
This Blog has been more than a chronicle for me. It's been a lifeline. I start out reading it every morning and read it again before I go to sleep at night. It is the one place I can go where I know that others understand what I am going through. I hope that you can keep it going for a very long time to come.

Sent by Elaine | 8:18 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Congratulations Leroy on the two year mark. You are a warrior and a survivor and one of the best "adapters" ever. Thank you for this blog.

Sent by JLmoyer | 8:21 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,
It is said we come across certain people, who come into our lives for a reason. You have been that person for so many of us. This blog joins us all together. WE do share all the days we deal with.
Continue to be our NED. OR whatever you are on any given day...we are right there with you.
Prayers,
Wanda Amorose

Sent by Wanda Amorose | 8:23 AM ET | 05-28-2008

we should do one thing, just something small, in celebration of this day.

Sent by sarah | 8:29 AM ET | 05-28-2008

An amazing thing in life and on the screen.

Bravo!

Sent by Lori | 8:36 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Dear Leroy,

Thank God for you and this blog. What a meaningful and positive way for everyone to share their feelings, experiences. For so long no one ever used the C word. Now we are not afraid to say it out in the open. May we all have many more days to write, share and find comfort here,

Lianne

Sent by Lianne Friedman | 8:36 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,

I rejoice in your having "...made it through another day." and expect to read you here for many tomorrows to come.

Peggy

Sent by Peggy | 8:38 AM ET | 05-28-2008

I also am about two years post diagnosis. I tell friends "they" won't call me cured for five years but I can call myself that if I want. I'm feeling good and really don't think my breast cancer will come back. But if it does, I have your example of how to live. Thank you Leroy.

Sent by Ann | 8:58 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Thank you for letting us know that in some small way we have helped you.

Sent by Donna R. in NJ | 8:58 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Dear Leroy, I have been reading your blog since the beginning. It helped me so much after my Dad died. I wasn't ready to let go of the 'cancer world'. I have to admit, at the beginning of the blog I was thinking 'man, this guy won't be around for Christmas'. Two Christmas' later... here we still are. I started out thinking about cancer one way, with blinders on. Your insights and honesty have changed that. I will carry what I have learned from you forever. Thank you so much.
Wishing you peace and healing,
Susan

Sent by Susan | 9:01 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Good Morning dear friend. And you have become a friend to all of us who faithfully look for and depend on your words of wisdom and advice every day. I am not sure when I began putting "my two cents" in, but it must be for quite a bit of these past two years. You have helped me a lot - to think, to contemplate our journey together and to listen to what others have endured and how they deal with it. As Ernie Pyle showed us the world of the average GI Joe of WWII, you have opened the world of cancer and it's effect on us and united us all in a common bond. Thank you Leroy!

Sent by J C R | 9:01 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy

You and this blog are indeed an inspiration and comfort to many!

I applaud you and this blog as you both approach two years of sharing your most personal journey with all of us!!

I sincerely hope we are ALL here celebrating MANY more anniversaries together!!

Sent by Ron Bye (NH) | 9:06 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Congratulations! What a milestone! What started as an idea has now become lifeline for so many each day. This is a place where every blogger is "safe" to express any and all feelings without judgment. This makes Leroy's place special!!

While it may seem to you,Leroy, that each blog for each day must contain something significant, I can attest that it is ok for the routine, the mundane and the sameness of everyday life still resonates with all of your bloggers.

You started with just one blog 2 years ago. Today, there is a network of Hope, Support, Trust, Honesty and Love that is intertwined in all of our lives and the network continues to grow. I can't express how unique this is in the cancerworld.

I salute you on this milestone for your compassion for others (a very big heart beats within), humility ("It's no big thing"! But yes it is a very big thing), eloquence (capturing the essence in so few well chosen words that paints a picture for all to see), honesty (the truth even when it's not pretty), and diligence/persistence (when the times are so difficult for you, the blog and bloggers are foremost in your mind and you soldier on). You are our muse!! We are grateful.

Blessings and prayers as always.

Sent by Al Cato | 9:17 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Congratulations, Leroy! You've done something that really matters here--really makes a difference in the lives of others. Way to go and thumbs up!!

Sent by Linda Lee | 9:24 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,

I'm sending you bunches and bunches of sunflowers. Thank you for each day. I look forward to hearing from you tomorrow.

love,

Virgie

Sent by Virgie | 9:25 AM ET | 05-28-2008

And as I have listened to you living your life bravely and oh so honestly it's given me a way to do the same. What a gift you are in my life, my friend.

Sent by Anita Solomon | 9:55 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Please continue the blog. I have my own health issues, but your blog reminds me that there are others in the world struggling, too. All the best.

Sent by mt | 9:56 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,
I haven't written in awhile. To be honest, it's been very difficult some days reading your blog. Words are so inadequate sometimes. My thoughts have been with you throughout everything, though. And I welcome you to today! I've decided to get involved in the three networks "StandUp2Cancer". (I've had breast cancer). The website is standup2cancer.org. I've decided to fight; for myself, for you, for my dad, for all my good friends, for all who have suffered or are suffering with this disease! I hope your readers will do the same.
I love you all!

Sent by Lyn Banghart | 9:58 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy, thank you for being there.

Sent by dorothy in oregon | 9:59 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Congratulations on the upcoming anniversary. Thank you for opening the doors of your life and letting us in. It was so lonely behind our own once closed doors.

Sent by Penny Coeur d'Alene, Idaho | 10:06 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Good Morning:
Have been faithful to your Blogs since your TV show:
suffer from colon and pancreatic(operation 9/07) thus far holding our own but life is a roller coaster; your word, arrangement and meaning help us all;
talk about you and enjoy having you in my home anytime.
shall continue with my testing; maintain my sense of humor and smile
thank you for being there;
my best
judd

Sent by judd novins | 10:12 AM ET | 05-28-2008

good morning, leroy!

as i have said many times - this blog is a learning experience for me and i thank you for it and g-d bless you - and on two the next two (2) years! take care and hope that your weather is wonderful
love,
janice

Sent by janice goldberg white | 10:12 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Congratulation on this milestone. I have followed your blog almost from its beginning. It is remarkable, poignant, and courageous. Thank you again.

Sent by John McCrillis | 10:19 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Happy Anniversary! We should never forget life is a gift. Could you tell us if you have gotten some of your pain issues under control, and how? Just in general of course. Thanks. 'Glad you're hanging in there. Wishing you a good day.

Sent by Diane | 10:45 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Congratulations Leroy! I was thinking about you this morning. Remember when you wrote about freaking out over not being able to suck up with a straw and you thought it was due to the brain tumor and then you discovered that the straw had a hole in it? I got such a kick out of that and something similar happened to me this morning which made me think about what you had written. You definitely have made an impression on all of us. You and your blog are definitely a good thing, Leroy. Love you.

Sent by Ruth White | 10:47 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,

I am so happy for you and for all of us who read your blog -I tell my friends it is my new religion. I am so thrilled you have beaten the odds and hope you continue to do so!

Sent by L J | 10:57 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Last weekend we celebrated my son's graduation from high school, one of the first milestone events lived without my father. Your entry today reminds me to be grateful for the delights we reeled in, and to cast out into life today for the next one. My dad would want me to do nothing less. In memory of him, in honor of you (and all in this cyber community) , I will keep trying to live life after cancer strikes as wholly and completely as I can.

Sent by Kay in Pa | 11:06 AM ET | 05-28-2008

I AM SO GLAD YOU CONTINUED YOUR BLOG. IT IS SO IMPORTANT. YOU HAVE SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE TO PROVIDE. IT HAS BEEN SIX MONTHS SINCE WE LOST OUR 20 YEAR OLD. IT IS NOT FAIR, PEOPLE LIKE YOU, THAT ARE SO SMART,SHE WAS SMART TOO, KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. WHY? WHY? The one thing I wish is we never talked of dying because she was going to beat it, five years she did. I wish we had talked about what she thought death would be like, what she thought heaven would be like; how she felt about death. it is a subject you do not discuss. She did tell me that she did not want a pink or blue casket. She wasn't talking about dying herself at that time. So, that is all I know. She told her friend, people forget you when you die after they grieve no one remembers you and she did not want to be forgotten she wanted to stand for something. In fact, that is true most of her friend, so called friends, forgot her before her body was cold. WHO IS A FRIEND, DO WE KNOW. I AM SO GLAD YOU CONTINUE TO WRITE I READ IT DAILY AND KEEP THINKING SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE IS GOING TO PUSH CONGRESS TO PROVIDE MORE MONEY FOR CANCER RESEARCH. PEOPLE SHOULD NOT DIE FROM CANCER. KEEP FIGHTING, AND KEEP WRITING.

Sent by MAVIS | 11:08 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Dude - over two years - that's terrific! See, you just never know what's in store for you - I hope you keep blogging for the next 30 years.

Sent by Joyce in FL | 11:16 AM ET | 05-28-2008

You are becoming a habit to me, Leroy.. I don't know you REALLY.. You SURE don't know me but you mean a lot to me..

TWO YEARS!! WHOOOO WHOOOO!! Let's make it three, okay? (My husband and I have been married for 28 years.. Each year he says, "Well, it has been ____ years, want to make it one more?" Of course I agree.. So let's make it three, okay? HUGS One Year At A Time..

Sent by Patsy Elmore | 11:20 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy and all, I feel so very fortunate to be able to share in your journeys via this daily blog, and you have been there to share in mine. Thank you for your continued daily posts. I have found it so helpful in my personal life as well as in my professional work in the Cancer World. Congratulations on this magnificent milestone!

Sent by Karen | 11:21 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Two years - congratulations Leroy! Thank you for the unique blog you have given us. You, and everyone else on this blog, have helped me through some very lonely and fearful times. I look forward to many more years with all of you.

Sent by Tina from Alton IL | 11:26 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Congratulations, Leroy! I hope tomorrow brings wonderful things for you. I look forward to your thoughts every day.
Charlotte in Rural Ridge, PA

Sent by Charlotte Kewish | 11:40 AM ET | 05-28-2008

CONGRATS on the 2 yr anniversary of this blog it has made me strong in the battle as a survivor!!! Everyday I read this blog and say THANK GOD we are still fighting!!! You go Leroy you are the inspiration for me!!!!

Sent by Luisa | 11:55 AM ET | 05-28-2008

I started reading your blog a couple of months after you began it. It's hard to believe that was almost 2 years ago. This blog has been more powerful because it has chronicled all the ups, downs and ordinaryness of life with cancer. I hope you continue to do that for years to come. Like many others here, I have felt much less lonely and fearful because of reading here everyday.

Sent by N.R. | 11:58 AM ET | 05-28-2008

I feel less urgency to check the blog during these calm times, Leroy, but I celebrate your presence, and the blog community we share, with the same fierce gratitude every single day. And presence is not limited, in my mind, to physical manifestation, so I'm expecting to be celebrating for as long as consciousness lasts.

Sent by Sarah | 11:59 AM ET | 05-28-2008

Congratulation on your wonderful anniversary. You and your readers have touched on so many aspects of what each of us encounter while being the one with cancer or the loved one. Your blog coincides with my husband's diagnosis and treatment of stomach cancer. He too has an amazing spirit and will to live. For me, you are creating a "book" that is filled with "prayers". Thank you for being the one to make this happen.

Sent by Helen Nitkin | 12:07 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy - A wonderful anniversary! 2 1/2 years of what all of us cancer survivors learn to live with a "new normal" whatever that might be!

Sent by Andi | 12:22 PM ET | 05-28-2008

To each and every one it is an order to celebrate! Thank you so much, Leroy with the Army!

Sent by Lucy | 12:23 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Dear Leroy,
Great post today and congratulations on your anniversary.
We have been through so much together. I have shed many tears for so many of you and I have been supported and strengthened by all of you! It was your strength and guidance that helped me through Neil's cancer and it was your support that helped to strengthen me after he passed. For that, thank you just does not seem to be enough, so with heart felt gratitude to all you, congratulations on another milestone!

Sent by Laurie Hirth | 12:24 PM ET | 05-28-2008

This quote from a movie we watched recently:

"Life is an occasion - rise to it."

Leroy, you have continued to do that and have encouraged many of us along the way. Undoubtedly I speak for all of your readers when I say that we are proud to celebrate the anniversary of your blog - and more important, to celebrate you!

Sent by Patte | 12:30 PM ET | 05-28-2008

I read this blog daily and am so glad you are here after two years. It has helped me in so many ways - thank you.

Sent by Deb from Michigan | 12:32 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Time flies when you're having fun....even when you're NOT!
Two years..hard to believe, but you have become an addiction to alot of us..wouldn't miss reading you on a daily basis, whether I have a comment or not! Thank you for writing ..even on the days you really don't feel like it--those sometimes are the best days shared!

Sent by Jo Ann Baswell-Margate,FL | 1:22 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,

The blog has been a gift. I'm not living in cancer world, but you have helped me to understand a little better some people I know who are living in that world. It has also been a gift to get to know you in some way.

Thank you.

Sent by Geoff | 1:35 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Dear Leroy
It has been 2 life changing years since my Dx. Glad to share this annaversary with you. It has been "the best of times and the worst of times". Thank you for helping all of us!!!

Sent by Lynda Spangler | 1:42 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Dear friend:
I do not comment often, but I am always here each day. I am forever grateful for hearing your broadcast in those first weeks. It has enabled me to draw strength from you and the community when it was needed. It has helped me to counsel my friends as they dealt with a terminal diagnosis. It has reminded me how I can never take a day or an hour for granted.
I love you as I love my own dear brother. You are very dear to me and I am thankful for the strength you continue to have and for the words you continue to share.

Sent by Harriet | 1:50 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Dear Leroy,

Since the first day I "met" you, and others on the Living with Cancer program, you have been a constant in my prayers. You're family now, and I feel invested in your future and the futures of all who comment. God Bless you all.

Sent by Connie | 2:06 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,

I felt so glad that the blog means as much to you as it does to the rest of us. I am so happy that you have reached this milestone when you weren't "supposed" to. There are endless milestones ahead! Go for it.

Blessings.

Sent by Diana Kitch | 2:07 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy at least eat something we would normaly feel guily over!!!! My expiry date is this 'September' - I plan on folowwing your two - 10 year blog.... ;o) a hug my friend. NOW what can I eat to help you celebrate!

Sent by carrie Belair | 2:14 PM ET | 05-28-2008

I can only repeat what others have expressed so well, therefore I'll simply say THANKS. While I don't know you, I feel that I've come to "see" the heart of you. There is so much sorrow and suffering in this world. We seem to be a better people when we can relate, at least to a certain degree, with the pain of our fellow man. But for the grace of God there go we.

Sent by Susan | 2:41 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Congratulations Leroy and all other 'warriors'! I discovered this blog after my first cancer surgery exactly 2 yrs ago. Words do not do justice to the community created here. It is a powerful force of readers/bloggers, it is a safe place to share parts of yourself and your cancer experiences that is usually not brought up in other parts of our lives: school, work, church, friends etc. Your blog has soothed me, tickled me, made me laugh, made me cry. It encourages authenticity of character, it's the bottom line. Thanks Leroy and love to all from Sherri in Texas, BC dx 4-06

Sent by Sherri Eggleston | 3:09 PM ET | 05-28-2008

You blog is a link on my sister-in-law's site, the sCenario, so I have been checking it daily. She lost her battle one month ago, and my brother posted the last entry last week. During the 14 months of her cancer and since then, it was a wonderful resource to know what was going on and to connect with their friends and supporters who were geographically separated. It helped us who read it to came to know how important she was to so many people. I believe these spaces create a new neighborhood for people with common experiences, even though that is very painful sometimes. Thanks for the two years of work, insight and constant hope.

Sent by Ellen Thorn | 3:09 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,
Congratulations on your blog's anniversary. Congratulations as well on your personal longevity. I know you have earned it the hard way.
I'm glad to hear that this blog has trancended being a responsibility for you has become personal as you stated. It is also personal to many of us.
We read your entry first thing in the morning and check in throughout the day. I read every response.
This site, as well as being a chronicle of your experience, has also become a sounding board, a safe place to vent, a place to get comfort and to grieve and a source of useful information for people afflicted with and/or caring for someone with cancer.
You are doing a great service for your readers and I hope somehow we may be doing something for you as well.
As always, our best to you and Laurie.

Sent by Gene Koeneman | 3:19 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy, Surviving is hard work! It seems you do it one day at a time, of course, but smetimes the days melt together and much time passes. I know I should treasure each day, but other circumstances make that difficult at times. The disease never seems to give you a break, it is always in the back of your mind. Even those regular days, with cancer, are different.
Congrats, on the 2+ anniversary, there will be more to celebrate down the road. Thoughts, Stan

Sent by Stan Wozniak | 3:24 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Congratulations on the milestone!

Looking back, it's hard to believe it's been two years already. I'm grateful for this space where virtual strangers have become virtually family. I've laughed and cried, been angry and upset and amused, consoled and consoling. I'm sure I would have healed from my loss with or without this place, but without it I'm certain it would have taken longer. It's gathered together cancer sufferers, caregivers, family, friends, doctors and nurses, and even people who aren't dealing directly with the issue, and we're all better people because of it.

Here's my birthday gift to all.

The Top Three Things Leroy's Blog Has Taught Me

Never take anyone for granted, because time is short.

Life isn't long enough for anger.

And finally, in the words of our late friend Stephanie Dornbrook, "Forgive everything."

Sent by Bruce | 3:27 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Dear Leroy, You, and the community that "My Cancer" has created have been with me for most of my 2+ journey into Cancer World. It was happenstance that I heard your "Morning Edition" commentary that was your first blog entry. Then, I only found the blog itself, because it was the first time that an NPR story had moved me so much that I wanted to send in a comment that very day. This community has been one of the best complementary therapies I partake in. So, there must be some truth to the addage that all things happen for a reason.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. To Leroy. To Laurie. To everyone who has posted, regardless of where you have been in this journey. I hope that all derive some measure of peace and healing from this blog, as I do.

Sent by Sheara | 3:30 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Thank you Leroy, Laurie, Ted and others who have kept this blog going. Someone above mentioned that this was a safe place to talk about what was happening in our lives. This is where I first said I might have brain cancer, three weeks before I told anyone else. Somehow, saying it here to people who were walking the same path just wasn't as scary and it let me deal with the idea. There is just something very special about reading and responding to people who really know what it is to be awake at 3am wondering how their life is about to change. Really know, not just think they know. You say there are days when you think you have nothing to say. That's a gift to me, too. So, thanks.

Sent by glenda | 4:18 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy-
I read your blog every morning because I wonder how you are doing. I have been fighting breast cancer nonstop since February 2006, so over two years for me too. Congratuations to us because I never thought I would make it 2 years or more. I feel a kinship with others in this same fight for our lives and sanity during the fight. Thank you Leroy and thank you NPR for letting us share in a personal battle, in which I feel a connection. Keep on bloggin' and we will keep on readin'.

Sent by Laura | 4:54 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy:
Namaste, my friend, Namaste.
Love, Don

Sent by don winslow | 4:55 PM ET | 05-28-2008

I just discovered this blog. Amazing. My daughter's daddy has stage 4 renal cell carcinoma. Tumors in his skill, lungs, other bones. On Friday I went with him to the oncologist and she said he had another tumor in tbe bottom of his right lung. It is almost too much. And the drugs are taking a toll on his heart and the lung tumors make it hard to breathe. The week before was five days in the hospital for shortness of breath and edema. I just wish that the end of his life did not have to be defined by this daily battle with cancer and the treatment.

Sent by elizabeth | 4:55 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,
Your blog is wonderful! Is has documented your journey and ours. It has been a vehicle to vent and to celebrate. It continues teach hope and lend support to your friends out here. You have also helped those countless others, to understand a little bit more about what it might be like to live with cancer.
Thank you so much!

Sent by Deb | 5:23 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Dear Leroy, I have been reading your blog from the beginning as well, although just wrote for the first time a little while ago. Like Susan with her Dad, it really helped me after my Mom died of cancer, which was shortly before you started the blog. Now I read the blog everyday to see how you and all the others are doing. I don't write often, but Leroy and all of you are in my thoughts and prayers every day.

Sent by Teresa from Missouri | 5:44 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Happy anniversary! May you (and all other cancer patients) celebrate many more days, weeks, months and years of good quality life after a cancer diagnosis.

Sent by Scott S. | 6:49 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Your blog is part of my everyday too. I don't have cancer. No one in my family has cancer (currently), but I know it is always looming there...somewhere. You give me hope for if and when that day comes.

Sent by Elizabeth Hertzfeld | 8:27 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,
You are an inspiration to us all. Happy "two years!"
love
Elena

Sent by elena turner | 8:38 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy~
I didn't discover you until my beloved Pat had had his final battle with the Beast. I have discovered, however, that I have a need to connect with what you have to say to me today and everyday. Thank you for that. It helps me remember what I went through; my wishes, my fears and my reality as a caregiver.

When you enter this world, it becomes all about surviving as long as you can until the next treatment, the next miracle comes along. Because Pat became part of a clinical study, he was able to have 22 months that I KNOW he wouldn't have had. Unfortunately, he didn't make it until a new study or treatment came along.

It really ends up being about how long you can stay alive with today's available treatments--without diminishing your quality of life.

God bless you, Leroy, you're defying the odds like my Pat did--go for whatever the record might be.

Kathy B.

Sent by Kathy | 9:08 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Congratulations on two years, Leroy!

Thanks for what you give us all...every day. I am pulling for you!

Sent by Judy Rand | 9:36 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Dear Leroy, Life is a WEBE program. We be doin' it together! This Blog has give me hope in ways I could never have imagined. Although we are doing it together you ARE the leader of our troop. Where would most of us be without you? Even if each of us were doing fine right now and this blog never existed we would still not be as rich as we are because you are in our lives. The richness of your courage, your struggle, your suffering, trials and tribulations shared has enriched us all. Maybe you have helped others to live longer with their cancer because they could see your courage and honesty. You have helped many people in countless ways. I know I am one of them. I feel in solidarity with you and everyone else here. Thank you.
-From Graham in Sag Harbor

Sent by Graham G. Hawks | 9:43 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Dear LeRoy,
I have been reading your blog for quite some time. I am a radiologist, subspecialising in neuroradiology as well as breast imaging, so I am well aware of the procedures you have been through as well as dealing with breast cancer diagnosis. It is amazing to me all the procedures you have been through, including the radiofrequency ablations, the spine surgery (and associated complications), the myelogram....I cannot imagine what it must be like to experience these as well as the many other invasive procedures you have experienced even though I am on the other end (actually performing the procedures). I pray for you each and every day. May prayer is that you find physical as well as emotional peace. My dad had a terrible prostate cancer, and he was a surgeon so he knew what was going on with his body (widespread metastatic disease). I hope that you will publish your blogs as well as the responses your readers have provided. It would be one of your invaluable legacies. You have been blessed with a gift of journalism, and it would be a waste if your blogs are not published, from so many standpoints, particularly as an inspiration to those with cancer. I also do not feel that cancer should be viewed as an "enemy". We all die, whether death be from cancer or from another form of illness or from a natural cause. (Then we get into religious discussions, and that is a very personal issue for all of us). For all of us death deprives us of what we enjoy in this life, most of all being with family and friends, reading a good book, listening to good music, laughter, tears,
a good movie,....all that we love while on this beautiful planet. Cancer is but one of many causes of what takes this life from us. You have dealt with it in a way that I cannot even begin to imagine. The worst thing I have read from your blog is the infection from your spine surgery. Again, I know what that means but have no comprehension of what it must be like to go through such an incredibly terrible ordeal. I have performed hundreds of myelograms, but do not know the spinal headache sensation (although there is an instant cure, the blood patch which our anesthesiologist colleagues so adeptly perform). Anyway, I think about you every day, I pray for you at least once a day. Again, please consider publishing your blogs in their entirety, including the reader's responses which are so insightful (the response to "My cancer.... was overwhelming). The best book I have read with regard to a personal experience is Cornelius Ryan's A Private Battle detailing his battle with prostate cancer. Should you publish your blog it should be mandatory reading for any medical student. I am so sorry for the suffering you have experienced and are currently experiencing, in particular any discomfort you have had at the hands of any physician. It is so frustrating for a physician to not provide healing for his/her patient. We do the best we can but it is often not enough. We are all human. Sincerely, James Davis III MD

Sent by James Davis III | 10:10 PM ET | 05-28-2008

So glad to be with you and beside you, Leroy! (and beside everyone who contributes or even just reads this thing) Every day is a good day, even the days that are crummy.

Peace,

Sent by betsey in albany | 10:17 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy,

Congratulations on this poignant anniversary. We all celebrate with you, because it has given us so much, personally for me, such insight, strength and perseverence as I've watched an uncle, a friend's young son, a close neighbor, and last week my grandfather die of cancer.

I have your television special taped on my DVR, and my daughter asked me last week why it remains. I told her my friend was profiled on that show, and I meant it - you're a dear friend to all of us.

Life is brilliant, it is wonderful, but we still have "the hours" to get through, and some days they're long and hard. Thanks for getting us all through those hours, Leroy.

God Bless.

Sent by Amy in NJ | 10:46 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Leroy: It just can't be two years that I have followed this blog although I know it has. You have been there from many places...the hospital family room, the hotel, the nights at home when I couldn't sleep.

Seems I'm usually one of the last ones to respond, but I'm so glad to have had to opportunity to meet all the readers here. Lots of times, I scan through the names before I stop to read just to make sure who is here and who is missing. It's a lot like doing a bed check at camp and I worry when my favorties miss a day like Sasha tonight. Hope you are OK.

Thanks, Leroy, for caring for all of us. We certainly care for you.

Nikki

Sent by Nikki in Kansas | 11:41 PM ET | 05-28-2008

Hi Leroy-
I was thinking about you today. Although it was more of a "you", as in a collective "you who are dying of cancer" vs "those of us who do not know we are dying" kind of thing. I was thinking that by the time we are writing a cancer blog, we have passed our time of "I am a wonderful person and you should support me" campaign phase. Life should be about that, not in the way that we PLAN on enlisting the support, but in the way that if we SHOULD need it, each one of us could write our own blog with little effort.
I'm thrilled that you have the support you do. I hope that you can accept and take personally each comment you get. I also hope you have a cadre of 'inner circle' people who have been there all along, the people that know YOU. I guess this is as much a call to life as anything I can muster. I hope that people hear it.

Sent by Maiureen Mceachen | 2:08 AM ET | 05-29-2008

Also thanks to you behind the scenes - NPR does have staff who have to read and choose what to post, edit when necessary and not include trash.

We appreciate you too!

Sent by Liz L. | 7:29 AM ET | 05-29-2008

I have found it to be very difficult to journal throughout my husband's match with cancer. Your blog, and the comments of your readers, have created a community journal which I feel a part. Entries have moved me in all directions, and some have burned themselves deeply into my memory of this time.. It's funny though, it feels to me that you've been with us through almost this entire three-year journey so far, not two years. Thank you for diligence, for your creativity, your humor, your willingness to tell us how it is where you are - and the invitation to participate in the conversation.

Sent by Ceese | 8:16 AM ET | 05-29-2008

Congratulations...and thank you so much.

Sent by Nichole | 8:33 AM ET | 05-29-2008

The poet David Ignatow once said "My avocation is to stay alive. My vocation is to write about it." So too, you and your blog.

Sent by jane schapiro | 1:44 PM ET | 05-29-2008

Dear Leroy,
Since every day is a treat.... you have been given many treats and that is your gift to us-----that you for sticking around and helping us in so many ways. YOU are our TREAT !!! Take care and be well!! xox dee

Sent by dee | 2:46 PM ET | 05-29-2008