Love You Through It
by Castlefan6
Authors Note: SnowKing1701 PROMPT REQUEST - They get together early in the series and a health scare tests their love, but not separate them. We may take liberties with the events and timeline from Canon and use events to make this a more believable fiction, Warning THIS IS AU, with only brief flashes of Canon. MAJOR CHARACTER ILLNESS, NO DEATH PROCEED WITH CAUTION, SENSITIVE SUBJECT MATTER
Thanks for the Prompt SnowKing1701, I hope I do it justice.
FINAL AUTHOR NOTES
Thank each of you who invested the time to read my story, it is truly humbling. I appreciate the suggestions and comments, even when sometimes I haven't a clue what you were trying to tell me. I want to let you know a little about my writing style, it's different I've been told and can account for why some don't agree with where I ended the story.
I chose this story, from a prompt, who told me to use my imagination, and go for it, which I did. Step one was what I always do, determine how I want the story to end. I work backward with a rough plotline, adjusting along the way from input I revive from readers. I'm sure we've all read long Fic's where the writer gets lost where he or she was going and either cuts the story abruptly, veers off in a direction that doesn't stay true, or worse, simply abandons the work, something I promise I will never do. If I publish chapter one, I will stay with it till I finish, I promise.
Tank, who is a guest reviewer paid me the ultimate compliment, after acknowledging that he/she didn't agree with all my stories, and directions I took the characters BUT always read because of the quality and completeness of the writing. I treasure those words, realizing I can never, or won't try to please everyone in my work, but even if you disagree and can say, it's well thought out, it flows and it makes sense, I just hate he did this to this character, I'll gladly take that any day.
I chose to end this story where I did, not out of haste, or because I didn't have material, but the title was Love You Through It, and Cancer is a very personal disease to us all. Everyone has been touched in some way by this awful disease, I attempted to point out some of the lighter days, but I also made some readers cry with some words. I got a message from a friend and writer telling me he was a blubbering mess, because of a scene I wrote, then just when he had recovered, the next scene hit him.
When I write, I try to honor those, like my wife and others in my family who have fought this disease, my wife won, all the rest did not so it was from my heart, and through some tears of my own that I wrote this story. After over 60,000 words, 18 chapters, I felt I had met the title, he had loved her through the battle, but we all know the war is not over there. Sometimes it's best to allow the readers to take the story and build on it from their own thoughts, sometimes after stepping away, drying my eyes, and catching my breath I may be open to a sequel.
If ANY good comes from this story, it is that early detection increases your chance of survival exponentially, and guys, we get Breast Cancer as well, it's not as common and unfortunately, treatments for women typically don't always work for men. Thanks to those who read not to critique the Medical issues in the story, they were not only researched, they were lived in real-time as well. Cancer affects every individual differently, so thanks for the latitude for the terms, procedures, and stages in the story. I never set out to write a medical journal, but if this story made you think, or pause for a second, or even made you cry, then I got your attention and my message was delivered.
More than ever we need to be conscious of our bodies and take care of ourselves, it is more important than ever. For those saying I ended it too soon, I would offer, would you like to relive the worst 6 years of your life for the sake of a story? I covered the areas I needed to in order to reach my determined ending spot, often with tears in my eyes as my own thoughts turned to those I have lost, and thought IF ONLY.
Thank you all once again, if you think reading this was draining, try writing it, Huge Thanks for all my regulars and continued support
Tim
