We often hear about making lemonade from lemons but sometimes we don’t know what will come from our challenges. Here’s an inspiring story of one person’s heartbreaking issue that had a happy ending.
You see there is a very nice guy named Emmanuel that plays tango music with his bandoneon. He’s a wonderful player, but in coming to this country as an immigrant, he didn’t have medical insurance. About two years ago he was diagnosed with cancer and had huge medical bills. There was a “Go Fund Me” effort arranged for him, in which I participated to help him financially, and with much love he went through many months of chemotherapy. He wrote very poetic messages on Facebook of how he was doing, almost like lyrics of tango music.
I followed his treatment along with the photos that he posted, sometimes in his hospital gown, but always with a positive attitude. As time went on those in the tango community wondered whether Emmanuel would beat the big C? Would he live through his illness? And then we started to see him playing his beloved instrument again here and there. Just a short performance at first with him looking so frail. And then more and more. Until the other night, I saw him smiling with a young lady nearby.
The story has a very happy ending. Emmanual told me that he got married. The surprise is that he married his oncology nurse! Wow, I stood there in amazement. The joy that he got from having Cancer that he would have never know if he’d never gotten sick. What a mixed blessing! He was beaming as he told me. I’m so happy for him.
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