Kathleen Blanco: I come to ask for your loving support against cancer

Updated Dec 10, 10:22 PM; Posted Dec 10, 6:00 AM

By Kathleen Blanco

Dear citizens of Louisiana, my dearest family and friends

It is with a heart filled with gratitude that I write today to thank you for the abiding love and prayers you have generously bestowed upon me and my family throughout my entire life and especially during my 24 years of public service. 

Without your prayers in 1997, when our son Ben lost his life, we could not have persevered. Thank you for sharing your own joys and sorrows, which brought clarity that we are never alone when our creator asks us to carry special burdens.

I come to you once more to ask for your prayers and loving support.

In 2011, I was diagnosed with an ocular melanoma, a dangerous and rare cancer of the eye.  With the help of talented doctors and medical professionals, my eye was treated with radiation, which successfully preserved my vision.  The past six and a half years of my life have been busy, filled with blessings and love.

I now face a new challenge.  I am in a fight for my own life, one that will be difficult to win, battling the melanoma that has invaded my liver. I knew from the start of my cancer journey this could happen, but with each passing year I hoped this cup would pass me by.  It did not.

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