Kilted Cancer Survivors?

[Kevin80222]

Basal and Squamous-cell Carcinoma and Melanoma; a bad case of a pasty Irish boy attempting to get a tan for 40 years finally caught up...

40+ excisions, chemotherapy - my body now looks like a bad road map of Cleveland.

I don't know if it was the kilt but instead the fact of the personal attributes most kilt-wearers possess; we are unique, tough-skinned individuals that have to be able to laugh at ourselves, to differentiate between what is important and what is trivial, and to live life as we see fit.

I empathize with how the Duke of Delrio felt about wearing the kilt - I have a huge scar on my face and scalp from one surgery and for a year that is all I saw when I looked in the mirror - when I'm kilted and I look in the mirror it's different, the scar is still there but I'm a guy in a kilt with a scar and I figure that takes a little fortitude and humor, and all of a sudden I feel better about myself and I don't think that my scars are the first things people will notice.

I guess that yep, that means the kilt helped because anything that makes you smile or takes your mind off of cancer for a second is a godsend.

It takes a lot to battle cancer and any person who's had is never really cured - it's not something you "get over" as there's always a chance of recurrence - that's why we celebrate 1-year, 5-year, 10-year milestones - cancer is a life-long struggle. You have to be a strong man to wear a kilt and a strong person to fight cancer so I think it's our fortitude that carry's us forward; once you're "that guy with cancer" being "that guy in the kilt" is a really, really good thing.

My heartfelt support and compassion to all others who've fought, are fighting, or are helping someone fight cancer as the emotional and physical toll are sometime unbearable - my heart aches at the thought of pain and fear that comes with the disease.

Kevin