Lion Hearted

This was originally written in early 2007 to accompany the scarf swatch I sent to Stitch & Bitch London for their lion scarf cancer fundraiser.

I began knitting in September 2006. Like many other newbies, my first project was a scarf…so was my second. A big portion of the second scarf was knit quite literally as my Uncle was dying of cancer.

My Uncle had been fighting this extremely aggressive form of bone cancer for over a year. It was so rare that no treatment protocol existed, so he offered to be part of a study that was trying to establish one. In October/November 2006 we all knew that the fight was close to over. I made two round-trip drives (3200 miles total) between Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Las Vegas, Nevada (where I was born and raised and where most of my family still lives). I knit when I stopped to eat (so I wouldn’t fall apart). I knit at the friend’s house where I was staying (because I couldn’t sleep). I knit in the hospital room (a lot).

During the last weeks of his life, as I was knitting in his hospital room, dozens of friends came to visit him. Throughout his battle with the disease, until he got too sick, he continued to visit his friends and family and to be visited by them. At the end, they all came to him. They came from miles away. Sometimes they came from years away. They came before dawn when they knew he needed to see a friendly face instead of hospital staff when he woke up in the morning. They came and they stayed, not just for a few polite minutes, but for hours visiting with my Uncle and with other visitors. Until I became a member of the knitting community (where it is a beautiful epidemic), I had never seen such self-sacrifice and such an outpouring of love and respect from such a large group of busy people.

My Uncle Clyde was a wonderful man. My Aunt Connie (his wife) is a knitter although she hasn’t knit in a long, long time. A few weeks ago I managed to start a cable project and get it going along pretty well. I called her because I knew she could share my joy and she did. She is also a breast cancer survivor and one of the kindest most generous people I know.

My Uncle died at a relatively young age (62). He left behind a wonderful wife, two grown children, two grandchildren, and countless other friends and family who miss him dearly every day. When I heard about the lion scarf project, I decided that I had to knit a section in his memory and as a tribute to the love and respect he inspired and that was returned to him at the end of his life. The scarf is in the colors of the United States Marine Corps (he was a retired marine) and (coincidentally) the colors of the New Mexico state flag. Knitting it has helped me cope with the loss of a man who was as strong as a lion and who fought his cancer like a lion until the day he died.