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

[GrainReaper]

These are some truly inspiring tales from all of you, I've not thus far been diagnosed with cancer but my wife has worked in the field for about 15 years and we have had countless patients as well as doctors over for thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, and so on..

We made it clear to everyone that our holiday dinners are open to all who have no family or who cannot travel to be with family. We never had an empty seat or lack of good conversation.

Me wearing my kilt at dinner was often the starter of conversations around the table and quite often some good natured ribbing amongst everyone, patients would tell my wife how much fun they had and that it was great to feel normal and more often than not the kilt was a highlight they recalled throughout their treatments at the center.

The endless power of the kilt...