Today I am inspired. According to the Associated Press "Acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert said he's been diagnosed with cancer again and that he will scale back his prolific writing of movie reviews while undergoing radiation treatment."
Man, Roger Ebert has been through the ringer. Living here in Chicago, as does Roger Ebert, we may hear more about his never ending battles than some other places around the country; I'm not sure. But if ever there was someone that has had to face seemingly never ending health battles, it's Roger Ebert. The thing is, he NEVER gives up fighting, and has kept doing his work even though it is extremely difficult to do so.
He has battled cancer in his thyroid and salivary glands and lost the ability to speak and eat during previous surgery, which also left him with a facial disfigurement. He has to be fed through a feeding tube and has spent months at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago after previous surgeries but never gave up and always found ways to continue doing what he loves.
Man, Roger Ebert has been through the ringer. Living here in Chicago, as does Roger Ebert, we may hear more about his never ending battles than some other places around the country; I'm not sure. But if ever there was someone that has had to face seemingly never ending health battles, it's Roger Ebert. The thing is, he NEVER gives up fighting, and has kept doing his work even though it is extremely difficult to do so.
He has battled cancer in his thyroid and salivary glands and lost the ability to speak and eat during previous surgery, which also left him with a facial disfigurement. He has to be fed through a feeding tube and has spent months at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago after previous surgeries but never gave up and always found ways to continue doing what he loves.
Ebert said the cancer recurrence was discovered after a "painful fracture" that made it difficult for him to walk. He was hospitalized late last year with a hip fracture. "It really stinks that the cancer has returned and that I have spent too many days in the hospital," he wrote.
Yet he says he's not retiring. He's going to fight yet another setback and continue to write his reviews to the best of his ability. He may not write and see as many movies as he has in the past, but says "I'll be able to at last do what I've always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review." Ebert wrote in his online journal.
If ever someone had reason to just stop, it would be Roger Ebert. Of course there are likely lots of unknown people who keep going like Ebert does (many people with many disease a lot like those of us with IC); they do it in anonymity with no one writing stories about their bravery and I don't want to diminish those individual's battles at all.
But when someone in the public eye goes through so many struggles and allows the public in, shares those struggles with others in the belief that it can help those anonymous people going through the same thing by inspiring them and showing them that maybe they can do it too, I am inspired. As mentioned above, the surgery to remove the cancer from his salivary glands left him unable to eat or talk and severely disfigured yet he never shied away from allowing the press to take his picture. That's brave!
I feel I can relate on some level by the never ending struggles he has faced, but I am lucky. I am not battling cancer. I am truly inspired by his never ending positive attitude after everything he has been through. It inspires me to keep going every day.
So, even though he will never know this, Roger Ebert inspires me to keep going. If he can do it, so can I. It's not always easy, heaven knows. But for me, like Roger Ebert, giving up is just not an option!
What a very inspiring story Catherine, thank you. I have also written down the saying on the picture so I can read it everyday. It is so very true! Keep up the wonderful work that you do!
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Valerie IC
THANK YOU Valerie!
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