Cancer Taught Me to Make the Best of Everything

Jane Biehl is a 12-year survivor of a very rare form of blood cancer, known as myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Catch up on all of Jane’s blogs here!

Brianna Wiest wrote, "Happiness is not having the best of everything, but the ability to make the best of everything." I think having myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) makes me more patient in some ways and less in others. I just cannot tolerate people who are constantly negative anymore.

These doomsayers are bad for my health. I am a former counselor and know that it is impossible for our brains to process negative and positive thoughts simultaneously. These thoughts may be a rapid succession of seconds apart, but if unable to contain both, we concentrate on the positive.

We live in turbulent times and are now experiencing a divide not seen since the Civil War. The wars abroad are horrific on so many fronts. People here are worried about health care, inflation and education for our children, to name a few things.

However, when I talk to people, I find people with the most problems to be more optimistic than people who are experiencing no worries about money, being able to travel all over the world and not having cancer. I visit my cancer center monthly, and when I talk to survivors in the waiting room despite horrible treatments and terrible prognoses, they often have smiles on their faces. I have several friends with lots of money and great kids and grandkids who tell me the world is ending and how upset they are. I try not to engage them, but they're obsessed (and this happens on both sides). The media fuels this with their stories, and I try not to listen more than I can handle. If all we see is gloom and doom, we feel inadequate every day.

I recently talked to a longtime friend with lots of money, a loving husband, healthy kids and grandkids. She spent the entire dinner complaining about how the world was ending, and nothing would get better. She could just feel that the world was ending. I finally looked at her. She lives out of state now, so she did not know the whole story about my battle with MDS. I said that two years ago, the doctor said without a bone marrow transplant, I had only two years to live at the most. I had to make a horrible decision whether to have that or try a new treatment. I chose the treatment that has kept me alive. I love and cherish every day. I refuse to talk about how bad the world is because I am alive.

She was stunned but stopped complaining. Most people who have survived severe illnesses feel lucky to be alive. Yes, we have scarred bodies, have lost hair and teeth and parts of our bodies, have no savings left and many other problems due to our illness. But we are still happier than those who do not appreciate what they have. Cancer is a brutal teacher, but some of the lessons are great. Enjoy your life!

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