To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.

Taking risks makes us vulnerable. Avoiding risks by playing it safe keeps us from suffering and sorrow. However, we will not learn, grow, love, or live fully without risks. Like me, some of you may have played it safe at one time or another in your life only to regret you did not take the risk.
We usually avoid risks for fear of failure and the shame that goes with it. Thomas Edison showed us there is no failure unless you quit. Edison failed 10,000 times while inventing the electric light bulb. He called them feedback not failures, and he used each “failure” as a stepping stone that led to his next experiment.
Young children are natural risk takers. I delight in watching my eleven month old granddaughter Lexi learn to walk. She pulls herself up on the leg of a chair, takes a wobbly first step and falls. Undeterred she pulls herself up on the chair and tries again. She is progressing in the way we learn: by falling or making mistakes and learning from them.
Do you realize that taking a risk can save your life? Let me give you an example.
Just two months ago on August 1st my wife, Mary Elizabeth, told me her primary care doctor had called about a spot on her lung in her follow-up X-ray. Something had not looked quite right on her previous X-ray a few months earlier. Mary Elizabeth responded promptly and went for the CAT scans and the PET scans he requested.
I went with her to a pulmonologist (lung specialist) who looked at her X-rays and scans and did more pulmonary tests. His findings were not conclusive as to whether she had cancer. He recommended a biopsy of the spot in her lung. Mary Elizabeth immediately had the lung biopsy. It showed hyperplasia (an abnormal increase in cells) but not cancer.
The pulmonologist recommended she consult a surgeon. She asked me to find one. I am a physician and used to using the internet for such tasks. Both of her parents had died from lung cancer and I knew she was absorbing the shock of having lung cancer herself.
We phoned Jeff, a friend who had experienced surgery for lung cancer. He had undergone a thoracotomy (chest incision) to remove one lobe from his lungs nine months ago. Jeff told us he still had pain from his operation, which involved a twelve inch incision, the breaking of two ribs, and cutting through the muscles of his chest. He still hurt at times and felt fatigued.
After talking with Jeff I was determined to find a minimally invasive form of surgery if possible. I searched all over Florida. I found Dr. Eric Sommers at Tampa General Hospital who performed robotic surgery for lung cancer. We made an appointment. We liked Dr. Sommers immediately for his straight-forwardness. It turned out he was a pioneer in bringing minimally invasive surgery to Florida. After examining Mary Elizabeth’s test results he did not immediately recommend surgery. He explained that the X-rays, scans, and biopsy did not confirm that she had cancer.
Mary Elizabeth again took a risk. She could easily have said let’s wait and follow the spot using X-rays. Instead she told Dr. Sommers that she wanted a definite result given that both her parents had died from lung cancer. He agreed to operate robotically doing a wedge resection of the spot in her lung. If the pathologist in the operating room diagnosed cancer from the resection he would proceed with a lobectomy of her left upper lobe.
On August 15th, just two weeks after her primary doctor’s call, Mary Elizabeth underwent a lobectomy after they found cancer in the spot in her lung. We spent that night at Tampa General. The next morning Dr. Sommers checked on her and found her doing well. He asked what she wanted to do. Mary Elizabeth was clear she wanted to go home. Dr. Sommers approved. We went home just twenty-four hours following her operation.
At home we found a second miracle. The first miracle was the surgery and how well it went given the lack of trauma to her body. The second occurred when our house filled with flowers, get well cards, letters, phone calls, and meals brought to us and sent to us. This miracle was the work of our Koinonia (fellowship) community at the Church of the Ascension. The outpouring of caring and love lifted her up. It lifted me up too. I cannot express how grateful we were for the support and love we received. I urge every one of you in this community, or in one like it, not to underestimate the power of your caring and love. What may seem small to you was huge to us.
The fourth day after we got home Dr. Sommers nurse called to report that all the lymph nodes removed during the operation were negative for cancer. Dr. Sommers told us that Mary Elizabeth needs to be followed regularly for five years. If there is no recurrence of her cancer she will be considered cured. Her chances for a cure are 90 to 95%.
One more point. You will fall. We all will fall. There is no way to age and not to fall. It may be the loss of balance, the loss of memory, or it could be through cancer, heart disease, the loss of a loved one, anxiety or depression. The point is not about falling. It is about getting up and going on. The Japanese have an wonderful saying: “Fall down six times, get up seven.” When you are faced with this decision remember that you have the power of your church community (or similar support group including your family) behind you, taking the risk to show you their caring and love, and God is always on the road ahead.

Please spread the word to anyone you think this message might help.

Doug Welpton, M.D.

Author of Attract Love, Intimacy & Money Website: www.attractloveintimacymoney.com
email: dougwelpton@hotmail.com and 727-442-9098

For information regarding The Episcopal Church of the Ascension at 701 Orange Ave., Clearwater, FL 33756, 727-447-3469 to speak with Alyce (pronounced Alice), email: alyceg@churchofascension.org.
Website: www.churchofascension.org
To contact Dr. Eric Sommers call 813-348-0810.
Website: flhls.com/physicians.php