Chemo-Therapist Quotes

“What’s wrong?” he asked, and I motioned for him to take a seat.
He listened quietly as I explained what had happened. By the time
I told him the whole sordid story, my heart was hammering in my
chest and I couldn’t meet his eyes. Was he angry? Would he lash
out at me like he used to? David reached across the table and gently
took my hand in his. I looked up and saw only tenderness and love
in his expression.
“What can I do to help?” he asked, and I burst into tears. David
had become my true partner in life.”
― Mary Potter Kenyon, Chemo-Therapist: How Cancer Cured A Marriage

“Initially, after David’s diagnosis, I would cringe when I read
books or articles by cancer survivors who stated that cancer had
been a gift in their lives. How could all that David endured be
viewed as a gift? The invasive surgery, the weeks of chemotherapy
and radiation: a gift?
Yet, after the cancer, David would often reach for my hand and
say, “If it is cancer that is responsible for our new relationship, then
it was all worth it.” And I’d reluctantly agree that cancer had been a
gift in our lives. We’d both seen the other alternative: patients and
survivors who had become bitter and angry, and neither one of us
wanted to become that.”
― Mary Potter Kenyon, Chemo-Therapist: How Cancer Cured A Marriage

“For the majority of our marriage I was so busy mothering babies
and nursing on demand that by the end of the day I didn’t even want
to be touched by David. During those sleep-deprived months when
it was all I could do to get dressed by noon, reading articles about
rekindling the fire or dating your husband frustrated me; it was just
another chore on a huge to-do list that was never done.”
― Mary Potter Kenyon, Chemo-Therapist: How Cancer Cured A Marriage

“Sometime during the night, my husband’s heart had stopped
beating, and I was certain that mine would break in two. It had taken
years of marriage and a bout with cancer, but we’d finally discovered
the joy of a good relationship. David had loved me completely and I
had learned what it was to truly love him in return.
And now?
Now, I had to learn how to live without him.”
― Mary Potter Kenyon, Chemo-Therapist: How Cancer Cured A Marriage

“Later, as I attempted to lean over the high sides of the hospital
bed to kiss David, I couldn’t reach either his forehead or his lips, so
I began kissing the length of his arm.
“I love you,” I told him before I was ready to leave for the night.
His beautiful brown eyes locked with mine.
“Thank you,” he replied simply, grabbing hold of my hand with
his. I brought it to my lips in response.
Thank you, as if my love were a great gift to him, when all along
his love was the gift to me.”
― Mary Potter Kenyon, Chemo-Therapist: How Cancer Cured A Marriage