Emily, Part 1: On Cancer, Courage, Death and Life

Emily vividly remembers the day she got the news. Unfortunately, she hadn’t made the volleyball team that year. While something like this might crush the average 13-year-old, Emily was able to shrug this off like it was nothing. Mostly because when she got home that day, she learned that her younger brother, Jack, had cancer…

Today is the first half of a very important conversation with Emily, whose family took a journey to hell and back that they never asked for, and handled it with some of the greatest strength and poise I have ever heard of. Perhaps most importantly, I’m blown away by the person Emily has become as a result of her circumstances. Her heart, her humor, and her humility is the stuff of sages...

Highlights of this episode include:
-What it was like to get the news about her brother Jack
-Her parents’ disposition that life was going to move on anyway throughout Jack’s illness
-How cancer allowed her to create a very special bond with her brother that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise
-How she gracefully, and humorously handles ‘pity’ from others