Cancer in Darkness and Light

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Cancer in Darkness and Light

Being diagnosed with cancer is like entering a dark and unfamiliar place. Imagine being suddenly transported deep inside a cave. You sense creepy things all around and it’s hard to see the path that may lead you out. It’s disorienting and scary.

This metaphor was suggested during a recent cancer support group by Reverend Tim Dean of Cayuga Medical Center’s Department of Spiritual Care. He went on to describe the role of a hospital chaplain as being present with people when they’re in these dark places.

Darkness is a good metaphor for the uncertainty that accompanies cancer. I didn’t fully appreciate this until I was diagnosed with the disease. The cause of the cancer wasn’t known, more than one treatment was possible, and my future was less than guaranteed.

We all live with uncertainty, but cancer transforms it from a philosophical abstraction into an “in your face” reality.

Each of us has the ability to be present with friends and family members should they be diagnosed with cancer and thrust into that cave of uncertainty. The notion that someone is there with you in the dark is immensely comforting and reassuring.

And darkness can sometimes be a gift in that it frees us from the assumptions and inertia that often rule our lives. It’s still scary at first, but less so once we steady our breathing and get our bearings.

Rev. Dean closed with a poem:

To Know the Dark
by Wendell Berry

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

From the Ithaca Journal, August 7, 2008

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