December 18, 2007

I received a letter from Bob Noll, a cousin from Leawood, KS. I don't remember if I've ever met Bob face to face, but we have been exchanging Christmas card letters since the early 1990s when my brother Robert and I put together "Beckers of Atchison, Kansas," a family history compliation.

This year, I sent a summary of "The Journey" to a few cousins who live far and didn't know what my sister and I had been up to this year. For those of you who don't know - "The Journey" is the story of how my cells are now circulating in my sister's blood system, in hopes that her lymphoma will be cured.

The transplant process took place at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. And that's what piqued my cousin Bob's interest. His daughter, Lisa, worked at Dana Farber for six years, assisting a doctor who was doing research on a new cancer treatment.

Now Dana Farber is huge, and the simple knowledge that a cousin used to work at the same place where the transplant took place is not a totally unique concept. But what is a wonder is the fact that my cousin and I were able to make a connection on the human level. His daughter helped to heal. My sister needed healing. Nurses helped me help her heal.

This just builds on my personal philosophy that the more we know, the more we trust; the more we trust, the more we help; and the more we help, the stronger our collective community becomes.

My community is a little stronger because my cousin shared his story. Thanks, Bob. And bless you, too.

Mary Lou