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CANCER An article I ran in the newspaper five years after having cancer "I would like to take this opportunity to show my appreciation and to thank all "our friends," who deserted my family and me, when they learned that I was going to die of cancer. As you realize by now, it is not contagious. I would like to remind you that I still notice the downward glances given to us when we meet in the supermarket. I also wish to share my deepest gratitude with the state and county for seizing everything we had ever worked for, because of unpaid hospital expenses. The process of losing our home, business, furniture, automobile and money hurt very deeply, and to have never recovered is very painful. That excruciating pain cannot come close to the hurt my family and I suffered from being forced to use food stamps to survive. The stares of everyone made us feel that we were lazy no-good people, but to know inside myself that I was an honest hard working father who had raised my children. The trauma of being stripped of everything made it hard for me to believe that I was living in the United States of America. This is April 21, 1982 and they say that I am cured. With the help of God and a wife who suffered more than any husband could ever ask, I HAVE MADE IT AND BY GOD, IT IS GREAT TO BE ALIVE!"