Liberty.

This is in no way beer related, but one of my friends died this week and I am having a really tough time with it. Her name was Liberty Rebekah Dagenais and she was 29. When I was going through my cancer treatment I met her on a website we were both members of. She provided to be someone good to talk to since we were both younger and she had breast cancer prior to my illness.
She recovered and got better and got a tattoo to mark that. She along with Morgan, another friend of mine who had cancer, were inspiration for my own survivor tattoo.
After she got better and was getting back to real life, she had some back pain and went to see her doctor. He said it was probably nothing but they took an xray to make sure. That showed nothing so he said they should do an mri just to be completely sure. And that showed the cancer had come back and there were now tumors growing around her spine. They were able to surgically remove those, and it was back to chemo and radiation.
I hadn't talked to her in awhile since she was so busy with that, but the cancer came back with a vengence and she died with cancer in her brain, liver, and bones. It ate her spine and she was left in a wheelchair paralyzed from the waist down. Finally she was told there was really nothing more that could be done.
People consider Lance Armstrong an inspiration, but consider someone who could no longer walk and who knew they were going to die waking up in the morning and facing the day with a smile. She was still able to focus on life and spending time with her husband and friends, all while in immense pain. I can't imagine the strength she said. I don't know that I could have done that and waited for the end rather than taking matters into my own hands.
Cancer brings out the best and worst in people and it her case, it was definitely the best. She proved to be an inspiration to so many and I hope that those of you who read this and didn't know her will find her as inspiring as I do. I feel so upset that the world has lost this person. I almost feel guilty that I am still here and she isn't. I am sure I didn't receive any better care than she did; but I guess that is just how things are. Some people get better and some people don't.
In loving memory of Liberty, a cancer survivor.