I was 12 years old when my Grandma Hobbs died. I don’t remember a lot about her, but she was kind of fat and soft when you hugged her and not so tall. One day she fell down the back door steps and broke her arm. It wasn’t too long after that she passed away. For many years, I thought she had died of a broken arm.

Some years later, I learned that she had cancer that had gone undetected until she broke her arm. Cancer is a horrible thing. We’ve lost several family members on my dad’s side of the family due to cancer of one kind of another. One day you have a healthy family member who goes to the doctor for something minor and then bang…a few months later they’ve died of cancer.

Silence speaks louder than words. Cancer is a silent deadly killer of loved ones. As each one of us grows older we realize that life is precious and not to be taken for granted. Encourage your loved ones to be pro-active about their health and well being. It could mean the difference between life and death.