In the Face of Cancer, Positivity Lightens the Load: A Patient Story
Dan Bramow
If it weren’t for the IV line slipped under the collar of his shirt and the quietly beeping machine delivering his chemo medication, you wouldn’t know that Dan Bramow has cancer.
Dan, 68 and a lifelong Cedar Rapidian, speaks with excitement about his hobbies: everything from mushroom hunting to making pickles. He’s still active, chopping wood when he can, and even working as a drywall installer.
He lives with his wife, and has two children and five grandchildren. His son, also named Dan, works as a drywall installer like his dad. It’s clear how much he values the close family ties. “We’re pretty close. We help each other,” Dan said.
As Dan speaks, you can see that his positivity and humility are not merely a show, or a brave face in light of cancer. He simply radiates a zest for living. He believes in the basic goodness of life and of people. He works hard, and he’s grateful for the simple pleasures. And he hasn’t let cancer stop him from enjoying them.
Receiving the cancer diagnosis
Dan began having some health problems that ultimately led to his cancer diagnosis. “I had the onset of not cancer, but my bile duct was closing off. It was almost completely closed. I ended up with chronic fatigue that was diagnosed by my doctor,” Dan said. “At that time, I was so fatigued, I had to lift both my legs into my vehicle even to drive.”
While undergoing a procedure to help with the bile duct, doctors discovered Dan’s cancer. “They put in a temporary stent to let the fluid through, which helped, but when they were in there they found cancer on the inside of my small intestine,” Dan said.
His reaction to this news reflects his characteristic easygoing attitude. “[The doctor] said it was smaller than a size of a pea. And I took him as being an honest guy, so I thought, that’s not much to worry about,” Dan said. “You know, at 68, you roll and tumble with the terrain. So I didn’t know what to think because I hadn’t had enough time to think about it. Gradually it set in.
“Because there is help. There’s really good, thorough help too, like at The Ghosh Center.”
Staying positive with cancer
“You gotta have a positive frame of mind,” he said. “You can’t think doom and gloom and expect anything positive to come from it. You have to take a little incentive on yourself to make things what they are. They can either be good or be bad and you make the choice.”
This topic is one he cares about. He’s not simply paying lip service to these ideas. It’s how he lives his life. And he wants to help others have the same perspective.
He continued, “You can be relatively free of problems by having a positive frame of mind. Or, you can wallow in the mire, and make life worse than what it is.
“Life is basically a good place. The earth is basically a good place. There’s so many good qualities of living here, they far outweigh any bad things. In my opinion they do.
“The more positively you think, the more things you generate to feel like that. It creates a charisma to yourself, and it creates a charisma that other people can see. They can see you’re not overloaded with worry and despair,” Dan said.
People who come in to contact with Dan do notice his positivity. Despite his prognosis, Dr. Ghosh said that Dan “is doing what needs to be done to do well in chemo. He’s active, he’s positive.”
Anyone living with cancer knows that feeling sadness, guilt, anger, and fear are part of the terrain. No one can wear a happy face all the time. The benefits of embracing a positive outlook, however, are clear. It doesn’t mean that you don’t experience these emotions, but that you can put them into perspective.
Dan’s advice to others with cancer
Dan offers advice to others who have received a cancer diagnosis: “No one wants to hear the word ‘cancer.’ But it’s a possibility for every one of us. If it comes knocking on your door, don’t lose control, just try to figure out what path to go. Because there is help. There’s really good, thorough help too, like at The Ghosh Center. I’ve spent enough time here to know that the folks here really know what they’re doing. They’re professionals. You can tell they’re genuine human beings who like to help as much as they can.”