I recently posted a pretty straightforward account of my health and life (see Doc, Is This Killing Me?) It was challenging to write and I honestly didn’t know what range of responses to expect.
I had enough confidence in you that I knew there would be fantastic statements of support and an outpouring of prayer. Y’all didn’t let me down.
But what took me by surprise is what’s turned out to be the most-asked question.
My wife, Anne has gotten emails and phone calls. “Is Dan giving up?”
People have taken me aside. “Dan are you giving up?”
And they approach it in a way that makes it pretty clear their minds are made up.
So let me make this clear:
No way, no how. Not surrendering, Not quitting. Not laying down to die.
If you think I’m giving up then you don’t know me as well as you think you do.
The fact remains that we are running out of options. The known treatments are not working. The autonomic effects of my disease make life complicated and create risks that could cause things to go south at any moment.
So what.
That’s not the bottom line.
And the fact that I can starkly acknowledge the situation does not mean that my resolve is slipping. Just because I can assess the storm doesn’t mean that I’m ready to slip beneath the waves.
So one more time:
I am not dead yet.
God is still in control.
This story is by no means over.
I have not yet begun to fight.
I had enough confidence in you that I knew there would be fantastic statements of support and an outpouring of prayer. Y’all didn’t let me down.
But what took me by surprise is what’s turned out to be the most-asked question.
My wife, Anne has gotten emails and phone calls. “Is Dan giving up?”
People have taken me aside. “Dan are you giving up?”
And they approach it in a way that makes it pretty clear their minds are made up.
So let me make this clear:
I AM NOT GIVING UP.
No way, no how. Not surrendering, Not quitting. Not laying down to die.
If you think I’m giving up then you don’t know me as well as you think you do.
The fact remains that we are running out of options. The known treatments are not working. The autonomic effects of my disease make life complicated and create risks that could cause things to go south at any moment.
So what.
That’s not the bottom line.
And the fact that I can starkly acknowledge the situation does not mean that my resolve is slipping. Just because I can assess the storm doesn’t mean that I’m ready to slip beneath the waves.
So one more time:
I am not dead yet.
God is still in control.
This story is by no means over.
I have not yet begun to fight.
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