I read a story in the Reader's Digest 1/98 about a remarkable woman named Diana Golden. She was a champion skier despite illnesses that continually plagued her. The first at the tender age of 12 was the discovery of bone cancer in her right leg and a subsequent amputation of that leg. Determined to ski, she opened up the world of handicapped sports and what was possible. Then, in her late 20's, cancer was found in her breasts and she had a double mastectomy. Depression hit, and a couple of times she even attempted suicide only to realize that she really wanted to live and make a call for help. She was ever the optimist and she was a very vibrant, charismatic and well loved person. Four years later, she was told that she still had breast cancer and it had spread to her vertebrae. Later that year she wrote the poem that follows. She met her soul mate a year later and they decided to marry. Just before the wedding she called him and said "I think I'm getting cold foot!" A priest counseled with her fiancée long and hard before he married her. He said, "I know that it will end with sadness, but I'm as happy as I've ever been. And this right now is more important than whatever sadness might someday come."
I loved this poem and the way that it describes a person gracefully dealing with tragedy, despair and death.
The autumn leaves
Doing their butterfly dance toward death.
Such valor they must have
To dance the dance so gracefully.
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