Sunny

I Choose Life not Suffering
By taking a tablet a day since Jan 2018, I am kept alive and have a normal life-expectancy but with lots of side effects and various little struggles.

I have never suffered, but have always made the most of things. Sadness only ever visited me when I saw the affect that my diagnosis had on those around me. I was sad for the tears of those who cared for me but never, I think, for myself.

I realised that a good way to live is not to focus on problems and negative things but to be bright and cheery. It is better to accept problems and move forward rather to wail and suffer. This is the motto of I Choose Life.

My empty medicine blister packs were always scattered around the house, annoying my wife and so I started to collect them. Once I had collected a couple of hundred of them, I glued them into an old trunk we had, writing the words “I Choose Life”. I painted the trunk inside and out, fixing letters and blood values on the inside. A big red vein, a blood tree goes through a white background representing Leukaemia, my blood imbalance.This is a private artwork which was not intended for public display. We call it Opus 2.

I do not spend time dwelling on the moment or circumstances of my future final journey. I do believe that when the time comes, my energy will have left me, I will be tired and accept my fate.