A Flashback Changes This Edition of Free Byte

Welcome to another edition of FREE BYTE.  It's not often when I have an idea for an edition of FREE BYTE and I have to call an audible and change what I'm going to write about.  Today brings that rare occurence.  My original plan was to call the guy out who wrote the op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal about how incoming First Lady Dr. Jill Biden should drop the DR. from her name since she's not an M.D., but rather a Ph.D.  I'll jump on him at another time.

Today, this edition of FREE BYTE is coming from a flashback that I had.  As I begin, I want to start by posting my favorite Garth Brooks song that is the catalyst for this post... that song is The Dance.


I gave you this song as a preface to this edition of FREE BYTE, and I'll give you one more:  If you think I have a hatred for this COVID-19 and the pandemic we are under right now, you have not seen me with my hatred for CANCER! I have a love-hate relationship with every cancer known to mankind.

OK.  Now that I got that out of the way, let me take you back a few years.  It was a November day in 2014 when I was with my first caregiving patient.  Then I was a 24/7/365 caregiver for a cancer patient.  She was (bravely) fighting a rare but deadly blood cancer called Angiosarcoma.  On that day, I was looking up videos on YouTube.  She was a country music fan and loved a good Garth Brooks song.  So, naturally, I was looking for The Dance.  What I got was a message and a blessing from a Garth Brooks concert that I will never EVER forget.

The video was shot on November 7th, 2014 from a sold out Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Garth was singing The Dance, when the moment grabbed my heart, held it and said "If you don't feel God in this moment, you have a severe faith problem.  Get it checked out."  I watched a woman named Teresa Shaw holding up a sign that brought me to tears.  The sign, in all it's Red, Blue and Gold glitter read: CHEMO THIS MORNING GARTH TONIGHT ENJOYING THE DANCE.  It's midway through the song when Garth noticed the sign.  He walked over and continued to sing, but stopped singing when he got close to Teresa.  He sat down, took her hand, took her sign and gave her his guitar.

Now, I mentioned what the moment had said before it happened.  If I didn't feel God in this moment, I need to have my very faith checked out.  What Garth said next reaffirmed my faith.  He said, "Sometimes, man.... Sometimes.... and one of those guys that said man, if God would just give a big ol' hand that comes out from the sky and write 'I EXIST', then there would never be any doubt, right?  Well I'm gonna tell you right now... God just stuck His Hand out!  And He wrote, 'I EXIST!'"  He then said directly to Teresa, "You have all of my strength, you have everybody screaming here... and you will KICK CANCER'S ASS!"

Between that moment and those words, I was bawling like a baby, but I repeated those words through tears to my patient.  Those words gave my patient the strength and the courage to keep fighting... all the way to her last breath.  My patient, my friend, Gail Edge passed away shortly before Christmas in 2014.  As for Teresa Shaw, last I heard, she is still keeping up the fight against Stage 3 Breast Cancer... and still "Enjoying The Dance."

So to everyone who reads this, I want you to apply Garth's words on that fateful night to whatever you're fighting.  No matter what, if you ever ask if God exists, the answer is a resounding YES! Whatever you're fighting, you will beat it.  I promise you that.  Keep fighting, keep living, keep loving, and most importantly, KEEP THE FAITH!  That's how you beat it.

Just Saying.