Secret Survivor Handshake

I just finished watching the episode of VH1's Bands Reunited that features the group ABC. Why does this show always make me cry? I was upset when two members of the band chose not to take part, but it was nice that the other two members - singer Martin Fry and drummer David Palmer - went forward with the one-off show. Martin was who I wanted to see most, anyway.

But the show left me stunned for an entirely different reason. Martin was the last band member they tried to talk into participating in the reunion. During his segment, the host started talking to Martin about 1986, and what happened to him.

What happened to him? He was diagnosed with cancer. What kind of cancer? Hodgkin's disease (like me). How old was he? He was 26 (like me). He married his girlfriend right after he finished treatment. What is his girlfriend/wife's name? Julie (like me).

When the words "I couldn't wrap my brain around it, but I had Hodgkin's disease, which is a kind of cancer" came out of Martin's mouth, my reaction was a loud "NO WAY!" And then I said "Martin's in the club!" It was that statement that elicited a puzzled look, and subsequent questioning, from the person watching with me. Who didn't know I was a cancer survivor. But who does now, and, well, I'm just not sure it went over all that well.

Anyway... I really liked some of the comments Martin made about his experience. Especially two statements:

"The people who see you at your best, and who see you at your worst ... when you're crawling around on the floor - that's a friendship."

"I kind of feel like I was robbed, in a way, of some time. And that's what motivates me today."

As cheesy as it sounds (and I know it does), I feel a sort of kinship with this person because of our shared experience ... and more importantly because I think both of us got the same life lesson out of being sick, and made the conscious decision to let the experience ADD meaning to our life instead of detracting from it.

Martin and David performed two songs (with help from Nick Beggs of Kajagoogoo!) at the end - "The Look of Love" and Poison Arrow (right click each to download) - and both sounded fantastic.

Posted by Highwaygirl on September 8, 2004 06:53 PM to the category Entertainment