Bethany Hang Out

After my husband Bob was diagnosed with a grade 4 brain tumor and we found out it was glioblastoma multiform, we went in our room and closed the door and sat on the bed staring. We had been so positive and hopeful. We had laughed in the hospital and kept our chins up. But this was terrible news. After a while I said, “What do you want to do? What do we do?” And he said, squeezing my hand, “We love, we walk on.” I smiled at him. “What else is there?” That’s right. That’s all anybody’s got. We love, we walk on.

My husband Bob Chapman died 12 years ago. His walk with cancer was heroic and inspiring. He continued to love and serve others as he fought cancer. He bloomed creatively. He started painting. He played guitar and sang every day for as long as his arm would still work for him. He continued to learn and discover. He deepened his relationships. He came to love God.

Bob was a real person. We had fights. He could be such a jerk. He had a hard time adjusting to not being able to talk at work and he felt inadequate and angry. It didn’t help that the steroids he had to take sometimes made him want to fight his friends. It actually makes me smile to remember his faults and the times he was mean and stubborn. He wasn’t perfect at all.

He didn’t pretend to feel any other way than how he felt. He felt all the same things everyone does going through cancer and facing death. But he did it. He loved and he walked on.

I think that is exactly what we have to do now. It’s actually kind of hard.

Pray for us Bob.

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