April 7th, 2004

I just got a call from my mother. All my family is back in Romania where I am from and I know that if my cell phone rings and I see "Ioan Ciupe" as caller ID (my dad's name), there is something serious going on and I must pick up. It was my mother and she just wanted to hear my voice and to tell me that she loved me, thought of me the whole day and prayed for me. It took me a few moments to realize what she meant by all these.

Today's significance totally slipped my mind although it's one of the BIGGEST, GREATEST, AMAZING reasons I am full of hope, faith and optimism. It was a date when back in 2004 I had a surgery performed in Romania. It was an operation to remove my left salivary gland because it was contaminated with cancerous cells. The surgery was successful and a few weeks after I recovered, I continued with six weeks of radiation treatment. The entire experience happened so fast that I personally didn't even have time to realize what I had, the not so pleasant outcome that I could have had and finally the amazing miracle God performed on me. I am alive today, cancer free and full of gratitude for this amazing gift God gave me for the third time: LIFE!!

(I say third time because the first time was when I was just first born, 29 years ago, then secondly was when I received the eternal life, and thirdly when God extended my earthly existence... my words are too poor to describe this special gift).