We don’t think much about perishable dates in our everyday life. If the milk has been in the fridge for a while we take it out and smell it, maybe check the date. Maybe just take a little swig and taste it. If its bad we pour it down the sink and try to remember to put that on the list for the next time we go to the grocery store, and if we forget the kids will surely remind us by leaving the bowl with the dry cereal in it from this morning on the counter all day long because they just moved on to the next option after opening the fridge and realizing that there was no more milk. For a lot of cancer patients, that date can mean a whole lot more.

I have really been going back and forth on if I wanted to write this or not. It has been on my mind for at least a month. I have put it off several times. I really like the message that I want to get out, but I really struggle with the content. I have been going back and forth with what my motivation for writing it is, and how it might be perceived by everyone. For some it might seem that we are wanting you to feel sorry for us but that is not why I wanted to write this. For us this is a very big anniversary, and one that we are very thankful for, but that is not the whole message I wanted to get out, “Raising the Average,” is the rest of the story.

Tammy has now beat cancer everyday for one-thousand seven-hundred and seven days. That’s fifty-six months or four and three-quarter years. With out giving you particulars, she has beat cancer three-hundred and seventy-two days longer than the average person with stage 4 colon cancer that has metastasized to the lungs. That is the anniversary. When I say that we are thankful for everyday I really mean that. Averages are just that, an average and are by no means the be all and end all and are just as benign as the perishable date on a milk jug, but I guarantee you listen real close when you are in a little room and someone gives you a perishable date on your life.

The anniversary is a big deal for us because there are no guarantees in life. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, but it has not been the overriding thought in my head for the past month. My thoughts are how did we get here, and why. My thoughts went to all of the wonderful doctors and nurses we have had, those nasty drug companies that make the drugs that save people’s lives, all of the support and encouragement that we have had throughout this whole process, but my focused narrowed to some very courageous people who somehow never seem to be recognized for all of the work that they do. When we think of cancer research we think of big hospitals, fine doctors, a chemist in their research lab looking for the cure. I am very thankful for all of them, but there is one part of research that could never happen if it were not for some very special people. Of course I am talking about the patients themselves.

Clinical trials are a very important part of cancer research and they would not be possible without patients who are willing to try them. There are no guaranteed benefits for them and besides the cost of the drugs, everything costs them something. Hotel rooms, flights across the country, time away from work, time without their family, you name it and they do it. There are numerous reasons why they do it. It is easy to think that they all do it because they are hoping to be cured. There is some truth to that, we all want hope in something, but I don’t think that anyone yet has been told by a doctor that they will be cured. So why do it. If nothing else they are hoping for more time, but I think the overriding reason is to “Raise the Average.” Their hope is that one day no one will have to sit in a little room and hear a perishable date.

So the last part to this is to say a very big thank you to the very special people who have given Tammy the opportunity to “Raise the Average.” Thank you anyone who has ever been a part of a clinical trial. Without you we would not be celebrating this anniversary. For all of you that are on my friends list, that are currently or have been on a trial, my hat goes off to you. You are my hero’s, and I will be giving you a hug the next time I see you. For my friends that have moved on, I salute you and I think of you often. For those of you just starting your journey always remember, everyday a breakthrough is made and as Stuart Scott so eloquently stated, “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and the manner in which you live.” If you see Tammy out and about please stop and give her a hug and tell her congratulations. She will no doubt play it off like beating cancer is nothing and not want the attention, but do it anyway, she deserves it.