Cancer sucks.

It sucks for a lot of reasons, but here’s the biggest one. According to the National Cancer Institute, over 609,000 died of cancer in 2019. That’s 600,000 + people of all races, ages, and ambitions. Fuck you, cancer.

Cancer is the kind of disease that takes so many people, you don’t even have to know the person who passed away to be affected by their death. Jessica Kasch passed away today. She was a popular Vegas Golden Knights fan and someone who started a National rally cry, “Jessica Kasch Forever.”

I found out about Kasch’s passing from a friend, Candice Fee, as well as another social media presence and good follow, Lux. You’ll know Lux from 105.7 FM radio here in St. Louis, but more so from her outrageously fun social media presence on Twitter and Instagram. From their posts, I saw a glimpse of Jessica’s life. The bright light that she was during her life and how she didn’t stop living her life due to a disease.

That’s an incredible thing. If a person can keep on living in spite of a deadly disease showing up at their door, they are beating cancer. Like Stuart Scott, the late ESPN personality said on stage at the ESPY’s back in 2014: “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner of which you live.”

That’s what Jessica did right until the end. That’s the only way someone can beat cancer without support from doctors, nurses, and hospitals. They keep their head up and go on. And I can tell you, it can’t be an easy task. If I come face to face with the disease, I can’t tell you how I will react. No one can possibly know.

Every time spring comes around the corner, I think of my late friend, Troy. He was a diehard Cardinals fan and worked with me on the manual scoreboard at the old Busch Stadium. We became fast friends, but in 2004, cancer took him from the world. A world that loved him very much. He had Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and was only beginning his late 30’s. He was close to my current age of 38, which is unfortunate. The world needed more Troy.

He loved Jim Edmonds diving for a ball in center field, teasing friends, and just having a laugh. There’s no logical reason for that to bow out of the world early, but then again, that’s cancer. It doesn’t fucking care who you are, how old you are, or how many people love you. It’s going to come in, do its thing, and wreck people.

All we can do is live life to the fullest. Appreciate the mornings, soak in the sun when it decides to make an appearance, and take a moment at night to recognize what’s going good for your life. Burn down the negative and find your way back to positive.

I didn’t know Jessica Kasch, but you don’t have to know someone for them to have even a small effect on you. She left the world too soon, but we can all take something away from an unfortunate passing.

Don’t waste any time. Don’t waste a damn second.

Fuck you, cancer. Fuck you very much.

*Photo Credit: Tyler Kasch’s Twitter.