On Tuesday, activist and Oscar-winning screenwriter Justin Lance Black took to his blog to share the news that his older brother, Marcus, was facing a grim cancer prognosis:
My apologies for dropping off the face of the blog world lately. Two weeks ago my older brother’s cancer came back in a way that is inoperable. I flew to Michigan yesterday to pack his things into boxes for the movers. He can’t stand or sit up for more than a few minutes, so step two is to drive him from his home in Holland, Michigan to my Mom’s house in Virginia.
Our goal is to make it there by Christmas Eve, but my bigger hope is that all of his treasures I carefully packed into boxes today won’t live there for good. My prayer is that he will be able to unpack them himself soon and that we’ll share many more Christmas mornings together.
I love my big brother more than I can describe. We survived a lot of dark days when we were little boys. I won’t go into the details, but I don’t think I would have made it without him. When I finally moved away from my brothers, we each put rings on our right middle fingers to remind us that we’re a family of survivors. You’ll see it in any picture I’ve ever taken.
So tonight I’m asking for your help. The doctors are saying it’s going to take a miracle for him to pull through this. So please, all I want for Christmas are your prayers for that miracle.
Much love,
Lance
If you feel like sending him some love yourself, here’s his Facebook page
There’s not much we can add to Black’s tender words, other than that our prayers are with him, Marcus and their family.
And perhaps that, as we enter the holiday season, we should all remember to cherish those family and friends who were there for us when the journey was rough.
Images via Dustin Lance Black
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MEJ
I know how he’s feeling. I lost my brother in October to a stroke. Both my brothers are gone now, something I never thought would happen so early in my life.
Everything I am today was shaped by my brothers, and the idea that I’m never going to hear my brother laugh, or laugh at his jokes again, is getting harder to accept everyday.
christopher di spirito
Cancer is a terrible disease. Bush/Obama spend billions each week in Irag and Afghanistan and now the pressure is on Obama to start bombing Iran which will cost billions more.
I simply don’t understand why the USA doesn’t spend its enormous resources to find effective treatments and even cures for the diseases that kill tens-of-thousands of Americans each year.
Apparently, healthcare isn’t sexy — but war is sexy?
GayGOP
My prayers go with the Black family. I cannot imagine what he is going through, and can only hope and pray that his prayers come true.