Gray matter blues

I was home Wednesday afternoon, dealing with a disastrous kitchen remodeling project, when I got a phone call that put my problems in perspective.

It was one of my roommates from college. Surprised he would call my home in the middle of a weekday, I was initially happy to hear from him; it had been too long since we last talked. But he had bad news.

Three years ago it was discovered that he had a brain tumor. He had surgery to remove the vast majority of it, and he's been on chemotherapy ever since to keep the remnants from growing back. The chemo produces few side effects, so my friend has been able to return to a fairly normal life.

Every three months my friend has an MRI taken of the brain, and it never showed any change in the tumor. Until this last one. So now he'll need to start radiation and a different kind of chemo. He'll get sick and lose his hair. But more important -- he'll be fighting for his life.

My friend appears to be taking all this amazingly well. He insists that he'll continue to work through his treatment, and he shows absolutely no worry.

I encourage you to head over to the American Brain Tumor Association's website, where you can purchase a set of wristbands in -- I kid you not -- brain matter gray. ABTA is part of the recently-formed Brain Tumor Funders' Collaborative (BTFC).