Goodbye Mr. Hodgkin

Dear Mr. Hodgkin,

Goodbye. I will not miss you.

I keep asking myself why our paths crossed in the first place. Why did you enter my life and make me toss my plans out of the window? Was it because I always heated my food in a plastic zip-loc container? Was it because I didn't wash my vegetables? Was it because I often abused my body's ability to get rid of alcohol? I guess I will never know, will I?

You made my life pretty miserable, there is no nice way of putting it. But there is something inside me that doesn't fully regret our encounter. After 8 months of chemotherapy and a great deal of thinking about life, I am much closer to my family, I have more faith in God, and I am marrying the love of my life in about a month. Under that perspective, it's hard to say that your presence was a bad thing, isn't it?

I always liked the idea that I am a mentally strong person. There was no better test to that idea than having to deal with you. I wouldn't be cocky enough to say that I passed the test with flying colors, but I know I kept it together. More importantly, today I feel mentally prepared for any challenge. I say that because I know life will go on, whether or not I fail.

I hope our paths don't cross again. I will try my very best to avoid that. But if fate brings us together in the future, I will use the very same courage and strength you gave me during this year to fight you and I will come on top once again, mark my words.

Finally, I hope our story helped whoever read this blog through the rough times, even if it was by just showing that people in terrible situations do manage to get out of them. The truth is that life will throw its fair share of curve balls your way; that's part of the fun. I hope my little tale with Mr. Hodgkin helps whoever reads this to not bend and to not break when life gets rough. I sincerely hope that.

Goodbye Mr. Hodgkin. I didn't bend, I didn't break. And I am proud of that.

Yours truly,
André