Cancer is still all too prevalent (we just lost a buddy from our weekly jamming session last week to cancer), but anyone who looks any deadly disease in the face and decides they aren't going down without a fight are pretty brave in my book. The outcome doesn't define the person - something will eventually defeat all of us. It's not how you die, but how you live - cliche, but true.

Cancer success rates have so many factors that can accelerate it - detection, location, person's lifestyle, etc. Even John Wayne couldn't beat cancer forever.

Hey BoytonBrother... so sorry for your loss. Losses to cancer are all too prevalent in today's world. I've felt the hurt.

I think that surviving cancer or surviving any life threatening disease can make a person stronger. That doesn't mean that people who didn't survive were not just as strong, or even stronger in their personal fight.

Let me also add that I often cringe at the personal stuff people post on Facebook. Maybe I'm just a private person, but I don't want my life splayed open over the internet for all to read and most to judge.

Don't take it personally. That post really doesn't say anything about anyone else's personal battles.

Again, condolences.

Thank you Billy. It was years ago. I just think we need a different way to say it instead of "losing" or "beating" the disease, and instead talk about luck. That might help.

My wife "beat" breast cancer, only to be diagnosed with bile duct cancer 1 month after she was told the good news about the breast Ca. She is fighting the good fight but it is taking its toll. She is still optimistic about the future - new developments are always on the horizon and she has benefited from some already.

She is genuinely happy for anyone's "success" with the disease. A close friend of ours was buried one year ago today because of cancer (melanoma) - the two of them were always encouraging each other and rooting for improvement.

I don't think anyone looks at someone who succumbs to that horrible disease as a "loser", even though we often hear the phrase "lost the battle to cancer", usually after a brave fight.

We pound our heads and ask why - there is no answer.

Anyway, back to your post, I don't think celebrating a good outcome in any way demeans someone who has a poor outcome. Cancer is a horrible, horrible disease. I personally have the utmost respect for anyone who has had to deal with it, and most people I know think the same.

Condolences on your loss.

Anyway, back to your post, I don't think celebrating a good outcome in any way demeans someone who has a poor outcome. Cancer is a horrible, horrible disease. I personally have the utmost respect for anyone who has had to deal with it, and most people I know think the same.

Conversely, I should also say, I've know of and read about people who chose not to fight the disease - if the detection is far too late, the treatment (or invasive surgery) more painful and only infinitesimally likely to change the disease's course - and they are hardly rolling over with a white flag. Staring death in the face and defeating it is always cause for celebration, but it's not a competitive sport.

cancer sucks. The mother of my son died from it two years ago. She was sick a long time. It was awful, friggin' sickening to see this warm, gentle, God-loving, pretty woman fall to it.

I hate it.

anything else after that, FB or otherwise is none of my business. We should all do whatever we can, no matter how much or how little, to end it. It sucks and should be annihilated.

cancer sucks.

We should all do whatever we can, no matter how much or how little, to end it. It sucks and should be annihilated.