Relay for Life, Seasons of Life

Kasey Cox

We are coming into the season where local Relay for Life teams start kicking it into high gear, raising money and getting ready for the big event. Mansfield’s Relay for Life is on June 28 this year, and Wellsboro’s follows soon after on July 11. I always keep tabs on the Relay activities, and try to donate as much as I can. I feel a real kinship to cancer patients and their families, although I have never had cancer myself, nor has anyone in my immediate family. Why would I feel so connected to this cause, this journey that people take when they or someone they love is diagnosed with cancer?

Professor, popular lecturer, and recent author Randy Pausch provides an answer. Like the Lance Armstrong yellow plastic bracelets reminding people to “Live Strong”, Pausch’s book “The Last Lecture” focuses his message on LIVING. This most recent of inspirational books to top the bestseller lists, “The Last Lecture” is a true story, unfolding even as you read it, of a young professor, husband, and father, who has written this book as a lasting legacy to those he leaves behind. Pausch has stage four, terminal, pancreatic cancer that has significantly metastasized into his liver. Most likely, by the time most of us are getting out our winter coats again, he will be gone. Unfortunately, as many people involved with the Relay for Life will tell you, Pausch’s story is not unusual. We could read many books that would be variations of what is happening to Randy Pausch and his family. What’s different about “The Last Lecture” is the framework of the book and what Pausch has chosen to say.

The premise for his book, as well as the title, comes from a hypothetical question posed to many professors to be the basis of a lecture: what would you say to this audience if you knew this were your last chance to share your wisdom? For Pausch, this question is no longer an academic exercise, no longer in the realm of “what-if”. The fact that there are many “last lecture” series given on campuses intrigued Pausch, even as he began to plan for the unthinkable – that his youngest child may not remember spending time with her father.

So, the last lecture that Pausch delivered on September 18, 2007, focused on “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. A lot of the advice he shared – keeping a childlike wonder in looking at the world, thinking outside the box, accepting constructive criticism, accepting help, being the kind of person people want to help, the importance of persistence – is not new, but boy, does it sound different coming from someone who has achieved as much as Pausch, and who is facing death sooner than he ever thought.

Books like this run the high risk of being too maudlin, or overly trite, coming across like a melodramatic country song or a bad Lifetime Channel movie. I began reading “The Last Lecture” hesitantly, fearing I’d be pulling out the waders or the Kleenex too soon. I was pleasantly surprised at how upbeat Randy Pausch’s perspective is, and how practical his advice. The book itself is a quick read: after the first few chapters which set the stage and give the background to this story, the chapters are short, each one summarizing a lesson he wants to share. It would easy to zip through this book and think, “oh, that’s a sad story, with some good advice from a nice, intelligent man.” I think it’s actually best to let Randy Pausch pull you quickly through the first time you read his last lecture. But then make certain you go back through with the proverbial fine-tooth comb. Read one chapter, ruminate, talk with your family and friends about it, journal about it, apply it to working with your colleagues for a week and see what happens. Then bite into a little more. You’ll find that Pausch’s honed abilities as a professor have allowed him to organize and synthesis a lot of information into small packages, but each package, when opened, has a huge gift inside. Ultimately, there are a ton of gifts packed into this little book.

Why do we cheer for folks with cancer? For that matter, why are those country songs and Lifetime movies so popular, why do the stories about people who are struggling with a terminal illness touch us so much? For me, it’s not to sit down and have a good cry, although that sometimes happens. What’s most important is the reminder to live well, as Pausch says, “with the cards you’ve been dealt.”