Dressed in red and her signature pound of make-up, Tammy Fay Messner appeared on Larry king Live last night, looking like a mere shell of herself -- so thin that when she took the deep breaths that punctuated her sentences, the bones in her chest were clearly visible. But as the 65-lb woman struggled to talk, one thing is apparent: She is weak in body but not in spirit. She talks of god and heaven with a certainty that I admire. To trust so much, to put your entire life into the hands of god, is something that amazes me.Here's a brief synopsis of what I learned from the interview:
Messner doesn't want to know how much time she has left on earth because she doesn't want a death sentence--she wants to enjoy each day she has left. She's not afriad of dying. She misses cheeseburgers and looks forward to the day she'll eat a juicy one again. She's already thinking of the people she'll meet in heaven -- particularly Billy and Ruth Graham. She's ready to go to heaven, but wants to stick around to spare her family the pain of losing her. She has no regrets. She wants us to know that she wants us, every one of us, to find peace in our lives.
And she wants to be remembered for her eyelashes.
Love her or hate her, I think she is incredibly brave to face death with such dignity.
1. My aunt had just passed away yesterday, from pancreace cancer. She had battled for a little over six months, and lost. Her life was very sad, she never really got to do anything. My family were all in tears when The Larry King Live came on.
Cancer never looks at the person or the age, that's why I learned it's important to live in life, and to have fun.
Posted at 11:43AM on Jul 20th 2007 by Alisa Saakova