embraceserenitycancersupportgroup

[SueBee]

Embrace Serenity is dedicated to my Father not to mention other relatives and dear friends that have lost their battle with cancer. I wanted to set up an online support group so that people can find the information they need or support. When my Father was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in May of 1999 and that same week we found out our best man was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. All this was four months before our wedding day. All kinds of feelings surfaced which I never knew I had. Mostly I felt alone to a point and confused not to mention wanting to know all about my Father's type of cancer. I did not know where to look. I was especially concerned because he was also diabetic and I had no clue how the cancer was going to affect his diabetes.

I searched the web and just was really amazed on the information but it was to spread out. I watched my Father go from a strong healthy man to a thin frail man and wished there was something I could do to ease his pain. On his last days I learned more about who I was and how much he meant to not just me but to others. He use to write and chart everything for his doctors in not only help them treat him but how he wanted to help others that had diabetes deal with having to battle cancer. I thought for years about volunteering for Hospice because they was so great to us during this trying time but with two small children it was not easy to come up with the time. I joined BarryGibb.com and his chat room. It was there that I found so many touched by cancer and when they found out that I lost my Father and many other relatives/friends they started asking me questions and I also found people around me were touched by cancer and they too were asking me questions as well. I saw how Barry Gibb touch so many of his fans and with his web site/chat room gave me the idea and inspiration to do my web site with the driving force of my Father Embrace Serenity was born on Yahoo 360 in October 2006 which is now shutting down.

That saddens me because of that is where my journey for Embrace Serenity started. As for my wedding it took on a total different meaning for my husband and I. We both wanted it to be simple and wanted all to have a grand time which they all did. I made my wedding as traditional as possible with no bells or whistles. My Mother made my wedding gown, a friend made all my bouquets, I made my center pieces and my God mother bought my wedding cake with topper. On my wedding day I looked around during the ceremony at all that attended and looked at the man I was to marry and realized that I was the luckiest and richest person on this Earth. For all those that were there for me to witness this day and the man that has been the support and soul mate of my life I could not imagine any day to be the blessing event of my life.

That and the day my Father was to enter Gods world. You may ask why I think it was a blessing. It ended the suffering he went through and that he was in a better place not to mention with all my relatives/friends that past before him. When I saw my father lifeless a sense of peace came over me and a warmth of knowing the life he lived and dedicated to his family. I believe the spirit/soul of someone leaves the body at the time of death because of what my Mother and I experienced moments before his last breath. We were standing outside in the back yard talking and all of a sudden a strange wind came swirling around us and between us and in that wind was my Fathers voice calling out my Mothers name just like he was right next to us. We both looked at each other with disbelief that we just heard it that we asked one another if we heard his voice calling her name. We went in and he had not passed yet but a few minutes later my Mother went to check on him and he was gone to Gods kingdom with a look of peace on his face. When they took his remains away and I watched the car take him down the road I realized that yes his remains was a shell of a man that taught people, loved people and accepted people for whom they were but it was the remains he left behind his words of wisdom, memories and love that stays with us forever.