A Matter Of Feelings by Arnild Van de Velde

Dana Reeve (1962-2006), the loving wife of movie star Christopher Reeve (1952-2004), the "Superman", died on March 6th, of lung cancer, seven months after the public announcement of her illness. Dana, who never smoked, was also into acting. If not for one of her TV movies ("Law & Order"), or her work as a producer, she will be remembered for her dedication to husband Christopher during his nine-year fight for recovery from tetraplegic condition, after falling from a horse in 1995. With her pretty smile, she was the one supporting him and his faith in a long hoped but never experienced healing, as Reeve would die on October 2004 with a heart attack.

Like the unexpected - and also not welcome - guest, cancer reveals its presence without any previous sign. Differently from other diseases, it doesn´t show any noticeable symptoms until it challenges life with its tricky possession of tissues. No matter what kind – breast, bone or blood, to name three within a hundred – cancer is surrounded by an aura of ending times. It puts the average person in a confrontation with faith and hope, meaningless values when the heart is just breaking.

Not long ago, the disease seemed mainly to affect the elderly. Recently, the number of young people facing cancer is increasing. Dana Reeve was just 44. Breast cancer killed Linda McCartney, the wife of ex-Beetle Sir Paul McCartney, at age 56 (in 1998) and brought singers Anastasia and Kylie Minogue to
chemotherapy, on their early thirties. Despite the progresses in Medicine, or promisses of healing if discovered prematurely, cancer remains a threat, felt at every control check. "Those visits to my doctor thrill me", says K.C., a 29-year-old woman who developed an agressive type of breast cancer right after the death of her father, who also had the disease. Two years ago, one day before her 27th birthday, K.C lost her left breast; now she is dealing with its so-called "reconstruction". Trying to keep her head up, she appealed to religious faith and alternative methods to understand her fate. K.C believes she has "programmed" her own cancer, in order to show compassion for her father´s destiny. In her mind, while she keeps trying to "delete the file", she dreams of a future with a husband and some children.

It is exactly at revealing the uncertainty of a presumable future that cancer shocks the most. In fact, making plans when being ill awakes general consternation. Cancer patients sound to us - the healthy - like little children describing their expectations about Santa Claus´ visit: so innocent and so mad at the same time. Ironic for some, but wise for others, the disease seems to act as "mediator" between us and our feelings. No matter how we are - directly or indirectly - affected by it, cancer forces us to compassion, even if only for ourselves.

Noralis, a venezuelan healer I met few years ago, used to live wild and fast until cancer knocked at her door. Cancer, she told me, is like a child we carry; but instead of giving it to the world, we keep it to ourselves. It would be necessary to look deeply into our souls to find the real reason for cancer, she said. Modern treatment and frequent information though cannot be put aside, despite the increasing tendency to admit that cancer is caused by factors beyond genetics, environmental changes or bad personal habits (like smoking) as suggested by a
holistic approach to the theme.

Dana Reeve deserves all my respect, but she wasn´t really my inspiration for all this. A beloved friend, who is bravely facing the challenge of defeating cancer, withdrawed me from a world devastated by wars, bombings, kidnappings and all sorts of disgrace, including celebrities and their vain existence. Mother of four, she developed breath cancer, which metastased to lung cancer; she feels too weak for a new chemotherapy, but strong enough to come and visit me during the next european summer.

That is what really matters.