Even though Mom has 3 more radiation treatments, she graduated today. At Procure they have a lunch every Wednesday. This is when they celebrate graduations. Today 13 people graduated. 11 men, 1 child, and Mom. Mom's number is 672. The center will graduate their 700th person very soon.
Proton therapy is only available for prostate, lung and brain cancers. Hence, the large number of men graduating today. Most of them mentioned prostate cancer. The little boy looked to me like he is about 8. He is from Manchester, England.
Mom and Dad had previously talked to his parents. The little boy has brain cancer. Children with brain cancer are sent to the US for proton therapy paid for by their socialized medicine. At the age of 14, their socialized medicine system tells someone with brain cancer to go home and die.
Nearly everyone thanked the staff for all they do. Several people thanked their families and a few thanked God. A couple of things stuck out for me.
One man said he was lucky. He only lives 12 miles down the road. He remembered harvesting the fields where Procure is today. He spoke about the many things that have happened in the intervening years. All so that in 2012 his prostate cancer could be treated with proton therapy. We have discussed this kind of thing in our family. All of the doctors that have been put in our path. There are only 9 of these centers in the US. Who would imagine that one of them would be in OKC? Oh, that's right! God!
I forgot what the other things were, so I will have to come back to that later. Ooh, and I will come back to share the after graduation party Daddy had been planning since Mom started proton therapy. And the wonderful friends that helped him pull it off. Until then...
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