A disturbing realization about the ravaging impact cancer has on the body was revealed to me recently.
I went over to my best friend’s house who has cancer. His name is Jack McMullen. Also known as “Jack Mac”. I wanted to reminisce with him about old times when we were growing up. He likes to do that now.
I had seen him about 2-3 weeks before and we had a great time laughing and kidding around with each other. We always have had plenty of stories because we’ve been best friends since middle school. That was decades ago. We have talked almost every day on the phone. And, we never stopped getting together with each other during all of those years. No matter how far apart we lived. Even if it was half-way across the country.
I called before I went over to his house. No Answer. I left him a text but I didn’t hear back. So, I decided to drive to his house. When I pulled up I noticed a few extra cars in front. I saw a truck that belongs to his brother, Brian, so I guessed that his family members were visiting him.
I rang the doorbell; Brian answered the door. We gave each other a high-five and he said “Come on in!”
When I got to the living room, I saw Jack’s wife on one sofa. Jack’s sister, Janette, was sitting next to a man I didn’t recognize on another sofa. I thought that it might be Janette’s father-in-law because I had never met him. But, since I knew everyone else, they were already asking me about how I was doing and telling me what’s been going on in their lives. During this time, the man sitting next to Janette just sat there looking down into his hands. Not saying a word or responding to any of the conversations and laughter.
After about 20 minutes, I was just about to ask where Jack was…I figured he was resting or maybe talking on the phone in another room. Right then I heard Janette say to the man next to her:
“Jack, we’ve waited long enough, you need to finish this last sentence on the paperwork.” She turned to me and said “Jack is having a hard time today. He wants me to write what he wants to say, but he needs to be the one to actually write it.”
I looked at the man. It was my best friend that I have known since we were children and now did not even recognize. I watched him as he wrote on a piece of paper in front of him.
But he never looked at me. He stayed bent over, writing slowly, word-by-word. Finally, he finished and Janette asked him to sign it. Then Janette got up and let Jack lay down on the sofa. He didn’t say anything. He just groaned. I called out his name and asked him if he was hurting. In a very faint murmur that I barely could hear - he said “Yes I am in constant pain.” Then he slowly closed his eyes.
His siblings and I continued to talk about the crazy things that happened to us as children. Finally, I walked over to Jack Mac. I put my hand on his arm and said it was good to see him. He whispered “Help me up, I want to give you a hug.” I pulled him up and we hugged. Then, in an almost inaudible whisper, he said “I’m so glad you came by, Steve. You know you are more than a best friend to me. My mom even said you were like another son to her.”
While in our embrace, we both said in each other’s ear “Love you, man.”
Then I slowly helped him lay back down on the sofa. And, when I walked out of my best friend’s home...
I knew…it was for the very last time.
I attended his funeral about a week later. There were many people there who will miss him dearly - including me.
I’ll always remember Jack telling me right after his mom died a couple of years ago that he wished she would send him some kind of message, since he believes in an afterlife. The next weekend I was at a flea-market and from a distance I saw a piece of art that had words on it and I was drawn to it for some reason.
I bought it, drove over to his house and said: “I’ve got a message for you…it’s from your mom.”
The hand-sewn art said: “Four-letter words that changed the world: Pray, Seek, Hope, Care, Help, Heal, Play, Feel, Love…
and the last word?
Jack.