110 degrees magazine - Index

110 degrees magazine - wlinks_may08 - Index

rallied around me with innumerable hugs, prayers,
tears, and laughter. They’ve given us money, meals,
cards, and flowers. I’m filled with gratitude!
The amazing fact is that pain and suffering will
make anyone better unless they become bitter. I’ve
come to relish C.S. Lewis’ famous comment:
“... pain insists upon being attended to. God
whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our
conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His
megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
Other cancer survivors have told me very frankly
that their cancer came as a gift. It awakened
them to who they were, to the love that
surrounded them like a cloud, and to the grace
of God that overflows every moment of our lives
if we will but receive it.
GOING INTO BATTLE
My cancer has never totally gone into remission,
but I’m in a battle! I’m a woman on a
mission. I’m telling people, “I’m going to get
rid of this cancer if it kills me.” (That’s usually
good for a laugh.)
I’m fighting for my right to be a mom to my
kids and a wife to my husband. I plan to live until
95 and die in a skydiving accident, perhaps, or
from falling while waterskiing.
I’m going to win the battle, but the fact is, that
whether my remaining time on earth is long or
short, I’m living each day like there’s no tomorrow.
Every year since my diagnosis I’ve been walking
on the Budget Blinds team with Lisa Borja, another
cancer survivor, in the Brentwood Relay for Life.
That’s coming up again June 21-22. Come by and
walk with us a few laps. It’s a wonderful weekend
— full of tears, laughter, good food, hugs…. All those
things that enrich the daily rhythms of our lives.
Somebody played me a song by Tim McGraw
with the great lyrics about a cancer victim:
I went sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu
and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I’d been denying
And then the great closing lines:
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.
Great words! I’m grateful that I have had the
chance to live like I was dying. That’s the point
at which I really came alive.
I’m running for my life! And it’s a great run!
°
Send an email to editors @110mag.com with questions
or comments.
PERSONA I BLOOM
JOY BURSCH
AGE: 42
OCCUPATION:
ONCOLOGY NURSE
PLACE OF BIRTH:
LEWISTOWN, MONTANA
LOCAL RESIDENCE:
BRENTWOOD
LIFE GOAL:
TO LIVE LONG AND
PROSPER
May/June 2008 www.110mag.com 83