Thanks to Andrea Neill.
Hardy always liked the name Hardy that his parents gave him: “robust; capable of enduring difficult conditions.” His father had been active and even played ball with Hardy when he was just five foot six. As Hardy grew up he played tennis, basketball, and football. He loved football the most . . . both on the field and off. He got a decent job and then took up golf. He had a number of friends, but enjoyed golfing with his dad as well. Hardy was shocked one day when his dad complained of pain and stopped on the third hole. Hardy drove his dad back to his dad’s house. His father just shrugged his shoulders and said, “I must be getting old.” The two laughed.
The next week his dad begged off for their normal round of golf. Hardy didn’t think too much of it because his dad had been in great shape, but when he stopped over at his mom and dad’s home he was shocked to see the sad face and the slack look of dismay. Hardy’s mom with tears coming down her cheek shared that his dad had advanced stomach cancer and a cure was less likely. In what seemed like overnight his father passed away.
When his dad died, Hardy and his wife Joann invited his mom Susan to live with them. After numerous tears, she was a joy to have around. Life continued. His mom lived to be eighty-five. When she turned seventy, she kept reminding Hardy to keep visiting his doctor. Hardy seemed to be in tip-top condition and didn’t think much of it until he actually went to a doctor. Like the history of his dad, Hardy fell right into the same problem.
As soon as the doctor explained what was going on inside him, Hardy guessed at the future. The doctor however, suggested treatment. Hardy went to a special doctor who suggested Radiation Therapy (or radiotherapy) which uses targeted energy to kill the cancer cells. Hardy breathed a sigh of relief . . . and thought “piece of cake.”
The reality was not a piece of cake, it involved drinking lots and lots of water, running around half-naked and laying on a table as the radiation machines circled over his body, and just being tired, really tired most of the time during a month of radiation treatment. After a few days of treatment, he got use to the people and the work that was being done. Hardy felt better when others were coming in for treatment also. Just a word or two between patients gave a feeling of togetherness and a little sharing of their common disease and drinking water together did the trick.
Once Hardy was let go and felt almost normal again, he was happy and thankful for the doctors, nurses, and radiation therapists. Two weeks later he got out his golf clubs and cleaned them up for the round of golf he had been missing. He didn’t get any holes in one, but when he finished his game he was smiling.
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