A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED

A version of this proverb was known by the 3rd century BC. Quintus Ennius wrote: 'Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur'. This translates from the Latin as 'a sure friend is known when in difficulty'.(weblink-https://www.phrases.org.uk). In this post I continue with the importance of community involvement on our road to healing and recovery.

In my last post, I mentioned that the first person I told about my diagnosis was my Pastor. The next set of people I confided in were my closest friends and family who I knew would support me in practical ways. I told my friends who I knew would actually help me with coping with life after a diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Help with my young children was especially important to me.

Having trusted friends to help with coping with life was very important because having the surgery limited the things I could do for a while. The chemotherapy treatments were especially hard on my body. For most people, it does not matter how strong you are, there will be days you can't even get out of bed because of the pain your body sometimes goes through, but life has to go on. I wanted to keep things as normal as possible and keep interruptions to the children's routine to the minimum.

My friends brought us meals, took the children to their sports activities and took them to their homes when I was feeling especially bad after treatments so they did not have to see me struggle through the pain. I was also able to rest when the children were away without worrying about how they were doing.

I had to take time off work. I was home on disability leave for more than a year. Even my colleagues at work helped. A few of them, wonderful women, had a timetable for taking me to my chemotherapy treatments. I had another friend who spent the weekends after I had my treatments with me so that she could take care of me and drive me around if I needed to go out.

All these wonderful people made life easier for me so that I could focus on getting better.

Lessons Learnt

Ask for help and accept it when it is offered. The more help you get, the faster your recovery will be so you can get on with your life. People will help you if you let them. It makes them feel less helpless seeing you go through your challenge.

Scripture

Ecclesiastics 4:9-10

Two people are better than one, because they get more done by working together.

If one falls down, the other can help him up. But it is bad for the person who is alone and falls because no one is there to help. (NCV)