Linus and Cancer

I've mentioned my sister, Linus, several times in writing about Bella and Zoe. Linus, of course, isn't her real name, but it was her nickname when we were growing up and, for reasons that will become clear, I'm sticking to that name.

She earned the name because, like Charles Schultz's little philosopher, she used to wrap herself up in an old blue and white blanket. She's a lot like that Linus in other ways:

She's the middle child--I'm older and our sister, M. J., is younger. The other Linus is sandwiched between Lucy and Rerun.

She's bright--nearly straight A's through school. One of our good friends used to grumble, "When we have an assignment, I work my tail off and get a "B" if I'm lucky. Linus waits until the day the paper's due, writes it IN INK on the bus on the way to school and gets an "A-!"

She's quiet--Schultz's Linus can't get a word in edgeways over Lucy, but Linus simply doesn't put herself forward unless she knows you.

In an earlier post, I mentioned she's not steady on her feet. Here's why.

Linus has cancer, a metastacized (second growth) tumor at the base of her sciatic nerves, which she's been fighting for more than two years. The tumor presses on those nerves, causing pain to radiate from her buttocks down the outside of her legs, and numbness from her knees on down; sitting ranges from uncomfortable to downright painful and walking more than a few steps is extremely difficult. She has a wheelchair named "Delilah" because she's candy apple red with black upholstry; a walker named "Fido" because she never goes anywhere without him--"Fido" means "faithful"; and braces for both feet named "Lucy" and "Ethel" since she never wears one without the other.

We take our fun where we find it.