Small Acts of Kindness

I often talk about the unexpected silver linings that present themselves along this crazy cancer journey. It is truly amazing how many people, who I am pretty sure I would never have met if it weren’t for cancer, have truly touched and influenced my life for the better.

Who would have thought that Edward, employed at the salon where I buy and have my wigs styled, would become a constant source of comfort? Or that my water aerobics instructor would motivate me to “keep going” in a way I could never do for myself?

I just had an Angel enter my life the other day in the most beautiful way. My husband and I have been in Switzerland the past week for an experimental radioactive treatment we hope will work on my tumors. The tumors have gotten quite large and have forced me to retain a lot of fluid. So, in addition to looking 7+ months pregnant, my legs and feet are extremely swollen and I am pretty immobile. It is very hard to walk and although I try, climbing stairs without holding on very firmly to a railing, is nearly impossible.

It is very hard for me to accept how my body feels since I have always really enjoyed exercise and have prided myself on staying in good shape. But my husband and I make the most of it, and when I do feel OK, we try to do activities that take our minds off of our situation.

I was receiving my treatment in Basel, and apparently they have the oldest zoo in Switzerland. My husband and I decided to visit. We had a lovely few hours at the zoo and then were planning on taking the tram back to our hotel. Unfortunately there was a long, steady hill that we needed to climb to get to the tram. We looked at each other and the unspoken was understood: there was no way I was going to be able to make it up the incline.

So, we decided to look for a cab.

A cab driver named Christopher stopped and offered to take us back to the hotel. At first, he was joking that I really needed to go to the hospital instead to deliver my baby. Normally, we don’t tell strangers about my situation but since he was continuing to talk about our baby, we decided to confide in him. We briefly told him that we were visiting from the United States to get cancer treatment and that this “baby” was indeed multiple tumors that were not yet responding to treatment.

He was very apologetic and supportive. He drove us to the hotel and refused to let us pay the fare. He then offered to take us to the airport for our flight home the next morning. He showed up 30 minutes early and this time, in addition to not taking a fare, refused to let us give him any tip whatsoever. He said that knowing he was making my life just a bit easier was all of the compensation he needed.

Christopher gave us his business card and contact information and implored us to reach out to him before we returned in eight weeks so that he or one of his drivers (he owned the taxi company) could be our personal escort when we returned.

I thanked him profusely and gave him a huge hug. Something that required little to no effort on his behalf made a big difference in keeping my spirits high.

We often don’t perform these small acts of kindness because we think they have to be “big” or they won’t matter, but the story of Christopher disproves this theory. So, wake up tomorrow and think “What little act of kindness can I commit to that will make a difference in someone’s life?” “How can I be a Christopher today?” What little thing can I do that will help someone?

And then do it. You will feel like you were the one who received the gift.