I couldn’t believe my ears

This month, I went to Cyprus for a week and a half to visit my father who has been  battling liver cancer.

It was certainly an experience that will be etched in my memory forever. I lived in the hospital for about a week with my sister and mother. At night, mum slept in a chair by his bedside (she's been doing this for months during his hospital stays) and my sister and I slept on the sofas just outside his room. He was in a room with 3 other patients and I was shocked by what I witnessed. I won't go into too much detail here so I don't upset anyone but I would like to write about one particular case.

In a bed opposite my father was a man who had suddenly gone blind. He had an awful wheeze, was very confused and kept trying to get out of his bed. He would get so frustrated that he would shout and swear at his wife, demanding a cigarette. She had a really hard time with him. The fact was, he was really scared and didn't know what was happening to him. Just three weeks earlier, he had gone for a check-up as his eye-sight had gone hazy. After some tests, it was found that he had lung cancer (the result of being a smoker) that had already spread and gone into his brain which was what was causing the blindness. He was dead within a week of being admitted to hospital.

This wasn't the only shocking thing however. Before he tragically passed away, his son who would visit him daily and seeing the terrible distress his father was in, was one day smoking in the stairwell. His mother told him off and he turned around and rudely snapped, "Nothing's going to happen to me. I won't get sick." I couldn't believe my ears. I'm sure his father had thought the same thing. 

Why do people so easily take things for granted?

·         I’ll eat whatever I want and not exercise – I won’t ever get sick

·         I’ll spend time with my husband/wife one day soon. I’ve just got to get this project finished first. They’ll understand.

·         I’ll take my children out next week. They can watch a bit more TV for now. It won’t do them any harm

·         My friends have all taken ecstasy pills. I’m sure I’ll be okay if I try it just this once…

…and the list goes on…

Yet every day, people get sick, people get divorced, parents and children have no relationship, people die. When it all goes wrong, then comes the guilt and what-ifs and should-haves.

Let’s keep our eyes wide open and not take things for granted. Let’s appreciate the people we have in our lives. Let’s look after ourselves and those around us.