Depending on whom you ask, the Internet either brings people together through access to information and ideas, or it causes us to shy away from interpersonal contact since we have an electronic lifeline to millions of people around the globe without leaving our homes.
Then you read a blog like the one written by Leroy Sievers, a journalist who worked for ABC and CBS News, and it reminds you of how powerful a medium the Internet is. In May 2006, Sievers began writing a blog called “My Cancer” that is posted five times a week on http://www.npr.org/, documenting his battle against cancer.
In the nearly two years that he has been blogging, Sievers has developed a loyal following, one that has devotedly traced his progress and regressions. He has tackled the issue of cancer with humor and insight, facing the idea of his own mortality with a sense of dignity, courage and stubbornness.
I don’t recall when I started reading the blog, but it’s been more than a year. In that time Sievers has been given a cancer death sentence, struggled through advanced treatments, been declared essentially cancer free, then been told that the cancer has returned.
It is an up and down ride that anyone who has been touched by cancer can identify with. My father died of mesothelioma in 1997. My grandfather died of liver cancer seven years before. Cancer runs in my family like a toxic river, so over the years I have become more cognizant of the disease and its devastation.
That’s why Sievers’ blog last week left me saddened. His cancer continues its aggressive march and his doctors indicate he may be running out of miracles. As he puts it, “cancer is relentless.”
Still, his work has inspired countless people around the world. The readers of his blog have become a family, supporting each other and providing strength to him and others like him. On the day Sievers told his audience that the cancer was becoming more aggressive and treatment options were slim, 250 people sent in comments offering support and prayers.
Cancer is relentless. So are the people determined to fight it. That includes physicians and scientists, patients, their families and friends. Hopefully someday there’ll be no need for a person like Leroy Sievers to document a battle against cancer.
Until then, the fight continues.
--Scott Samples
Public Information Coordinator
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