Wondu Bekele Woldemariam, Ethiopia
I am Wondu Bekele from Ethiopia, a father of Mathiwos, our third and youngest son, who died 13 years ago from leukemia (ALL type) and for whom our Society – the "Mathiwos Wondu-YeEthiopia Cancer Society” - is named.www.mathycancersoc.org. I joined the war on cancer just after I lost my beloved son. I can't tell you how much cancer affected my family: emotionally, physically and financially. I don't have the proper words to tell you how much we all miss our beloved son Mathiwos. Mathy changed our life in many ways; he was handsome, active and strong. We very much enjoyed the 51 months we had together and we have nothing to complain about, but we pray that our fellow human beings will never experience what we have been through. As you may agree, we human beings are not born to live on this earth forever; life may at times seem very long, but it is in fact very short and expensive to waste. We believe that we will meet Mathy again when our time on this earth is finished. We came to realize that forming a cancer society and trying to help our fellow cancer patients in whatever way we can and challenge the growing burden of cancer here in Ethiopia would be one of the best ways to remember our beloved son, his friends, and his cause, and to express our thanks to God for all the opportunities He gave us to help our son in every way humanly possible, leaving the rest to the will of God.