James Oberstar: “10 years ago my wife Jo succumbed to breast cancer after an 8-year struggle with that disease. Today in her memory I…”

“10 years ago my wife Jo succumbed to breast cancer after an 8-year struggle with that disease. Today in her memory I deliver the eulogy testimonial I offered in St. Bartholomew Church on this day. Marshall Lynam, well known to Hill denizens, tells the story of Lyndon Johnson who, on learning that his secretary of many years had been diagnosed with breast cancer, called the chief executive officer of the Mayo Clinic and said, ``I am sending my secretary out there, and I want you to cure her, hear?'' The awed and startled, to say the least, CEO responded: ``We will be glad to treat her, Mr. President, but you have one of the greatest cancer research and treatment centers in the world, the M.D. Anderson Clinic, in Houston.'' ``You are right,'' said Lyndon. ``I will send her there and make them cure her.'' Jo got the best care there was. But cure was not in the forecast. I want--as she wanted--her doctors to understand that, for the Christian, death is not defeat. The medical community is so focused on heroic efforts to extend life that sometimes we forget that death is a natural consequence of having lived. What matters is the quality of both life and death. From the spiritual perspective, all of us were focused wrong: it wasn't the cancer that needed healing; it was our empty hearts, yearning for meaning, for purpose and love, which needed healing and filling.…”