A letter to cancer

percent of goods, by the way. Electric vehicles still need fossil fuel to generate the electricity needed. And they pollute a lot more over their entire lifespan. So, stop using anything fossil fuel related like a car, phone, laptop, TV, clothing, furniture, etc. Otherwise you admit being a hypocrite!

A vote for Democrats is a vote against your freedom and your rights! Gino De Neef Franklin

Trump just doesn’t care

To the Editor:

I recently received a mailer from the Trump campaign purportedly to tell the truth about what Trump has accomplished. However, several of Trump’s accomplishments were omitted in the brochure.

One is Trump’s support of Saudis, including selling bombers to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis have taken sides in the Yemen civil war and have used these aircraft several times to bomb cities and ports of Yemen. It is estimated that more than 100,000 have been killed in Yemen including more than 12,000 civilians.

In March 2019, both the House and Senate passed a resolution to end U.S. support of the Saudi war effort. It was vetoed by president Trump. Because of the Saudi bombing, the United Nations warned that 13 million Yemeni face starvation, many of them children. However, Trump continues to supply Saudis with planes and military aid.

Saudi pilots, you will remember, were involved in the 9-11 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives. Amid the tears and grief that marked that day, Trump appeared t in a news conference in which he declared his feelings, “one of my buildings, I believe, is now the tallest in downtown Manhattan.” A total lack of concern or compassion for the death and grief of that day.

We Americans have an election coming soon in which we can cast ballots for President. We can vote for someone who, perhaps, cares about our welfare and well-being. Or we can vote for someone who doesn’t care a fat Cheeto about whether we live or die. Paul Strop Waynesville

Trump’s re-election important for U.S.

To the Editor:

“I hope they both die” are words expressed by some lefty Trump haters when they heard that President Trump and the first lady tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. This attitude is no surprise because the name calling, scandal tattling, mocking, dredging up of prior comments and false accusations are what we are subjected to from some supporters on both sides.

Now we are at a point in this election cycle where it is time to pin down what really counts in choosing a President of the United States. To my mind it is tested leadership ability, straight talk, promises made and kept, a believable concern for all of the American people, creating prosperity and finding solutions to problems. I expect a President to be active and engaged while full of energy, spirit and patriotism. One who will maintain our social order, national security, law and order, individual liberties and constitutional freedoms. These qualities are what we have now in President Donald Trump and his re-election ensures these characteristics will continue in our President of the United States. Shirley Slaughter Cashiers O ne nondescript day in May 2013 we had Sunday lunch plans. The morning had been a frenzy of cleaning and parenting my two little boys. I was excited to get out of the house so someone else could cook and serve me food.

When my parents arrived, I sensed something was awry when they walked through the door. They exchanged knowing looks. My dad Susanna Shetley Columnist guided the boys outside to play. My mom took my hand and led me into a bedroom. She seated herself and patted the space beside her. I sat down. Her face wore an expression of concern.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I have breast cancer,” she responded looking me point blank in the eyes.

The flowers on her dress started swirling. The boys’ laughter drifted through the window. The ceiling fan clicked as it went round and round.

I could not conjure words.

The following months were a blur of chemo appointments, radiation and surgery. I carried around constant guilt about my busy schedule preventing me from accompanying my mother to appointments, but she always eased my nerves by saying it made her happier knowing I was a hardworking mommy taking care of her little angel boys. She always told me to focus on my own life and she would worry about her health.

We lifted her spirits by staying busy and ensuring the grandkids were with her as much as possible. We made sure she rested and ate well. She was tired and sick, but she was steadfast in her quest to overcome the illness. It was during this time I wrote the following letter”

Dear Cancer,

At first glance you are merely a word, six black letters on a white page, seemingly harmless and irrelevant. But, you and I both know the truth. You are an evil word, one that trembles from the mouth with tears streaming and panic pulsating.

You are a parasite that claws deep into the breasts, lungs, pancreas, ovaries, blood, skin, brain. But you do more than scrape away the healthy cells that were so carefully created. You take away mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons. You deplete innocent people of pride, immunity and strength.

As hated as you are, you are equally powerful. Only the most severe treatments can maybe, possibly, hopefully destroy you. Treatments that make your victims sick, weak, sad, amnesic. Treatments that do not dance in harmony with the perfection and intention of the human body.

In the end, though, here you are. So instead of wasting energy despising you, wanting to spit on you, I will turn away from you, for now. I will focus on the ones who are battling you, fighting to feel well enough to enjoy dinner with family, a walk on a beach or an afternoon with grandchildren.

We’ll get you one day, cancer. It may not be today. It may not be tomorrow. But, one day, we’ll get you. Sincerely, Susanna

About a year after her initial breast cancer diagnosis, my mom went into remission. She fought breast cancer with everything in her and won. The following months were full of joy and bliss. Sadly, she was soon thereafter diagnosed with multiple myeloma, another type of cancer. There wasn’t a direct correlation between the two types of cancer, but my mom’s depleted immunity from chemo left her with little to fight the multiple myeloma.

Two years later, in August 2016, she lost the battle.

We can’t understand the trajectory of a person’s journey on earth. I will never understand why my mom’s life took a devastating turn, which left her loved ones grieving and heartbroken. When she became very sick, she told me all she wanted was to live long enough to see my oldest son start middle school. At the time of her death, he was a second-grader. He started middle school this year. Though she wasn’t here on earth to send him off, we felt her cheering him on from afar.

The strength with which she battled both cancers will inspire me forever. Grief changes a person. It makes one wiser and more grateful. As one of my favorite writers, Elizabeth Gilbert, said, “It’s an honor to be in grief. It’s an honor to feel that much, to have loved that much.”

This column was written in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and originally appeared in Rumble, The Smoky Mountain News enewsletter, published every Thursday morning. Rumble is a newsletter created by women, for women and about women. If you would like to subscribe, you can do so at https://bit.ly/33yoU1B. We are open

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