![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/download-4.jpg?resize=275%2C183&ssl=1\")
My dad was 71 when he was diagnosed with advanced-stage colon cancer.\u00a0 Because he can be a rather grumpy old man who\u2019s anger and temper are legendary in these parts (he was once evicted from his own high-school basketball game after getting so upset about a referee call that he slammed the ball into the floor with such force it bounced up and hit the ceiling) \u00a0my three sister\u2019s and I were all a bit wary about how this journey would play out.\u00a0 We knew he\u2019d be a miserable patient.\u00a0 We decided to take turns bringing him in for chemo and radiation in an attempt to spread out his hostilities.<\/span><\/p>\nThis was my first real \u201cgo around\u201d with someone battling cancer.\u00a0 Sure, I had come<\/span>\u00a0alongside several others with cancer and helped with meals, rides, visits, etc.\u00a0 But that\u2019s different.\u00a0 That\u2019s just peaking in on their lives when it\u2019s convenient for me and feigning understanding.\u00a0 Because, truthfully, I didn\u2019t have a clue what they were going through.\u00a0 With dad, things got real.\u00a0 It was a real, shared walk through the valley of the shadow of cancer.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0Chemo and radiation appointments involve lots of waiting – so we spent countless hours in the terrarium-like caf\u00e9 that anchors the cancer center in Grand Rapids.\u00a0 Over orange-cranberry muffins and dark-black-coffee-no-sugar, Dad and I would talk about growing-up memories, golf-cart repair issues, sports, and all the \u201cbull-shit lawmakers who have their heads up their asses.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
One day, in that lovely cafe with the smell of cancer thick in the air, I saw something new \u2013 a fresh perspective.\u00a0 I saw a well-dressed business man in a tailored black suit \u2013 with expertly coiffed hair and his briefcase tucked upright by his feet – sitting opposite his bald mother, hand-in-hand.\u00a0 She was attached to her chemo pump and she seemed to be soaking in every word of her attentive son.\u00a0 I saw a young mom, with her three little children dodging in and out of her legs and the legs of the table, sharing hysterical laughter with her dying sister \u2013 a woman of 42 who was losing her battle to breast cancer. \u00a0\u00a0I saw two middle aged women \u2013 one the sick and suffering and the other the best friend \u2013 leaning in as they talked, holding hands, sharing lives and sharing tears. <\/span><\/div>\n
I was witnessing the holy gift of presence.<\/span><\/div>\n
Wherever you are (at least in America) and whomever you meet, if you ask them, \u201cHow are you?\u201d almost invariably the first word out of their mouths will be \u201cbusy.\u201d\u00a0 Or they may respond with busy\u2019s sister, \u201ctired.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s pandemic \u2013 those are our culture\u2019s predominant adjectives.\u00a0 As I looked around at the many people in the caf\u00e9 that day, I thought: These people are busy, too<\/i>.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure they are just as busy as everyone else \u201cout there\u201d<\/i>.\u00a0 But then I realized, it is because of this thing called CANCER <\/i>that <\/i>they have all chosen to get off the crazy-cycle of life and spend today \u2013 this day \u2013 in the terrarium caf\u00e9 of the cancer center, and be fully present for the person in their life who is battling this wicked disease.<\/span><\/div>\n
They get it, <\/i>I thought.\u00a0 They get it that nothing else matters as much as the people in our lives<\/i>.<\/span><\/div>\n
For whatever else these busy people had going on in their lives \u2013 on THIS day they decided that people matter most.\u00a0 Relationships matter most.\u00a0 And they chose to say \u2018\u2019TODAY, I will honor my loved one with the gift of PRESENCE.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
When someone gives you something that you really needed, that you crave and long for, and fills a gaping hole in your life, I would say that is a gift.\u00a0 Even if you didn\u2019t know you needed it \u2013 it is still a gift.\u00a0 Might cancer be a gift? \u00a0Is that what God was thinking???\u00a0 Please understand – \u00a0I DO NOT think cancer is beautiful.\u00a0 I think it is ugly and is a result of the Fall and I think God weeps when someone gets cancer.\u00a0 But I do know this \u2013 what I saw in that caf\u00e9 every time we went in for a chemo or radiation treatment was a beautiful side of humanity that we rarely get a glimpse of anymore:\u00a0 people slowing their lives down enough to really REACH INTO the lives of another and bring hope, comfort, presence and peace.\u00a0 It\u2019s like they bring some heaven to earth.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
Cancer gives us the gift of presence.<\/span><\/div>\n
Until my dad got cancer, I really didn\u2019t want to hang around him much.\u00a0 He can sometimes be down-right mean \u2013 and he yells at me when I\u2019m driving.\u00a0 He sometimes makes me feel six-years-old and I\u2019ve just spilled the red Kool-aid on the shag carpet.\u00a0 And he thinks anyone who isn\u2019t a conservative Republican in the Reformed Church of America is an idiot (which causes trouble for me\u2026).\u00a0 But cancer changed all of that – I suddenly didn\u2019t care about his mean tendencies, yelling in the car, and political views.\u00a0 I just wanted to spend time with my dad because I realized our days on this planet are numbered and I wasn\u2019t going to have him around forever.\u00a0 This life is not our own, and we can no more control the beginning and the ending of it than we can control the rising and setting of the sun.\u00a0 I started missing dad even before he was gone \u2013 and suddenly, more than anything, I wanted to spend long hours over orange-cranberry muffins in the cancer center\u2019s caf\u00e9 listening to his rants about Obama and his asshole neighbors at the trailer park. <\/span><\/div>\n
I have learned over the years that my dad really does love me, but has a hard time expressing it.\u00a0 I love my dad, too.\u00a0 And I haven\u2019t told him that enough.\u00a0 Cancer gave me a chance to do it.<\/span><\/div>\n
Sometimes it takes something as ugly as cancer to bring that out in people.<\/span><\/div>\n
And now I am beginning the journey of my own walk through the valley of the shadow.\u00a0 It may be years before I feel any of the effects of Lymphangeioleiomyomatosis (LAM), but I\u2019ve seen the CT scan of my lungs and it is scary.\u00a0 I\u2019ve lost countless nights of sleep tossing and turning as I picture those cysts on my lungs hijacking the space meant for air exchange.\u00a0 And because there is nothing that I, nor the medical professionals, can
\ndo at this point to treat my LAM, \u00a0I decided the one thing I could <\/i>do was jump up and down and scream to the world that LAM exists and that it\u2019s evil and ugly and should be eradicated!\u00a0 I joined forces with my sisters and a few friends and organized a local 5K Walk\/Run to raise LAM awareness and hopefully raise some money to help find a cure.\u00a0 We decided to set rational expectations, and prayed for maybe 40 or 50 participants and set our financial goal at $2,000.<\/span><\/div>\n
\ndo at this point to treat my LAM, \u00a0I decided the one thing I could <\/i>do was jump up and down and scream to the world that LAM exists and that it\u2019s evil and ugly and should be eradicated!\u00a0 I joined forces with my sisters and a few friends and organized a local 5K Walk\/Run to raise LAM awareness and hopefully raise some money to help find a cure.\u00a0 We decided to set rational expectations, and prayed for maybe 40 or 50 participants and set our financial goal at $2,000.<\/span><\/div>\n
In mid-August, as the Lord blessed us with the best West-Michigan weather ever, around 275 people participated in our \u201clittle\u201d 5K and we raised over $13,000 to help fund the search for a cure!\u00a0 It was nothing short of miraculous and it took my breath away (no pun intended).\u00a0 I looked around at that sea of people that glorious Saturday morning and realized, again, I was witnessing a beautiful side of humanity.\u00a0 The side where all these incredibly busy people slowed their lives down enough – their one wild and precious life – to take part in an event that extended to me and every other woman with LAM\u00a0 the gift of hope, comfort, presence and peace.\u00a0 It was such an amazing celebration of life.\u00a0 Even though LAM is ugly, the celebration that day was beautiful.\u00a0 Truly beautiful.<\/span><\/div>\n
I hate it that my lungs are slowly giving out on me \u2013 but I am beyond grateful and remain totally in awe that I got that little glimpse of heaven come to earth that day through the outpouring of love from all those people running a 5K.\u00a0 Maybe failing lungs is just one of the many tools God uses to get humanity to counter the overbearing \u201cstay-busy-and-tired\u201d message of our culture and instead to slow down and give the gift of presence!<\/span><\/div>\n
I\u2019m telling you what, even when things seem bad \u2013 even ugly-disease bad \u2013 God is still good.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
image courtesy of hin255<\/a>@FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA Thank-you to Cancer and Other Ugly Nasty Diseases - Cindy DeBoer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Thank-you to Cancer and Other Ugly Nasty Diseases - Cindy DeBoer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My dad was 71 when he was diagnosed with advanced-stage colon cancer.\u00a0 Because he can be a rather grumpy old man who\u2019s anger and temper are legendary in these parts (he was once evicted from his own high-school basketball game after getting so upset about a referee call that he slammed the ball into the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cindy DeBoer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-16T20:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-08T21:49:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/download-4.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cindy DeBoer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cindy DeBoer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cindy DeBoer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0ac88bb25b526d02f231ed1d250da136\"},\"headline\":\"A Thank-you to Cancer and Other Ugly Nasty Diseases\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-16T20:20:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-08T21:49:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":1425,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/download-4.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"CANCER\",\"DIFFICULT DADS\",\"LAM\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lymphangioleiomyomatosis\",\"Parenting your parents\",\"Terminal Illness\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/\",\"name\":\"A Thank-you to Cancer and Other Ugly Nasty Diseases - Cindy DeBoer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/download-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-16T20:20:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-08T21:49:47+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/download-4.jpg?fit=275%2C183&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/download-4.jpg?fit=275%2C183&ssl=1\",\"width\":275,\"height\":183},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Thank-you to Cancer and Other Ugly Nasty Diseases\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/\",\"name\":\"Cindy DeBoer\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Cindy DeBoer\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/cropped-cindydeboerlogo.png?fit=924%2C512&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/cropped-cindydeboerlogo.png?fit=924%2C512&ssl=1\",\"width\":924,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Cindy DeBoer\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0ac88bb25b526d02f231ed1d250da136\",\"name\":\"Cindy DeBoer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c6eea04bed353203780faca6f2397dd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c6eea04bed353203780faca6f2397dd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cindy DeBoer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/author\/cdbmaroc\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Thank-you to Cancer and Other Ugly Nasty Diseases - Cindy DeBoer","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Thank-you to Cancer and Other Ugly Nasty Diseases - Cindy DeBoer","og_description":"My dad was 71 when he was diagnosed with advanced-stage colon cancer.\u00a0 Because he can be a rather grumpy old man who\u2019s anger and temper are legendary in these parts (he was once evicted from his own high-school basketball game after getting so upset about a referee call that he slammed the ball into the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/","og_site_name":"Cindy DeBoer","article_published_time":"2014-09-16T20:20:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-08T21:49:47+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/download-4.jpg"}],"author":"Cindy DeBoer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cindy DeBoer","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Cindy DeBoer","@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0ac88bb25b526d02f231ed1d250da136"},"headline":"A Thank-you to Cancer and Other Ugly Nasty Diseases","datePublished":"2014-09-16T20:20:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-08T21:49:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/"},"wordCount":1425,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/download-4.jpg","keywords":["CANCER","DIFFICULT DADS","LAM"],"articleSection":["Lymphangioleiomyomatosis","Parenting your parents","Terminal Illness"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/","url":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/","name":"A Thank-you to Cancer and Other Ugly Nasty Diseases - Cindy DeBoer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/download-4.jpg","datePublished":"2014-09-16T20:20:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-08T21:49:47+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/download-4.jpg?fit=275%2C183&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/download-4.jpg?fit=275%2C183&ssl=1","width":275,"height":183},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/2014\/09\/16\/a-thank-you-to-cancer-and-other-ugly-nasty-diseases-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Thank-you to Cancer and Other Ugly Nasty Diseases"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/","name":"Cindy DeBoer","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#organization","name":"Cindy DeBoer","url":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/cropped-cindydeboerlogo.png?fit=924%2C512&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/cropped-cindydeboerlogo.png?fit=924%2C512&ssl=1","width":924,"height":512,"caption":"Cindy DeBoer"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0ac88bb25b526d02f231ed1d250da136","name":"Cindy DeBoer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c6eea04bed353203780faca6f2397dd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c6eea04bed353203780faca6f2397dd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cindy DeBoer"},"url":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/author\/cdbmaroc\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Cindy DeBoer","author_link":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/author\/cdbmaroc\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3838"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3838"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4126,"href":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3838\/revisions\/4126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My dad was 71 when he was diagnosed with advanced-stage colon cancer.\u00a0 Because he can be a rather grumpy old man who\u2019s anger and temper are legendary in these parts (he was once evicted from his own high-school basketball game after getting so upset about a referee call that he slammed the ball into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,28,36],"tags":[49,63,86],"yoast_head":"\n