Mary Kenyon Heroism

According to the National Cancer Institute, “In 2015, an estimated 1,658,370 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States” (“Cancer Statistics”). What if one of those cases was your mother? Husband? Grandson? What if more horrifically, it was all three? For Mary Kenyon, that devastating thought became a reality. In just three brief years, she lost her mother, husband, and grandson. All three of them battled cancer, and two of the three died from the disease. Through strength, resilience, and a whole lot of faith, Mary overcame grief and shows true heroism by inspiring people and helping them defeat the same obstacles she faced. Throughout all three illnesses, Mary was a caretaker for each of her loved ones. In fact, according

She took these negative happenings in her life and somehow twisted them into a positive. After the death of her mother, husband, and grandson, Mary became a completely new person. She’s now much closer to God than she’s ever been before, and she finally learned how to really listen to Him. Also, She is now more open to people, and “actually has friends now!” (Kenyon). Likewise, she is also more of a caring and compassionate being. If Mary is interviewing someone for the newspaper and they have lost a loved one like her, she puts down the pen and paper and listens to their story. More than likely she can relate to their emotions. Additionally, Mary has written a book about grief: Refined By Fire: A Story of Grief and Grace, in the hope of helping someone out there like the how the books she read after David’s death helped her. After he died, Mary constantly read books about grief from authors like C.S Lewis, Joan Didion, and H. Norman Wright. Reading those books finally made her realize she wasn’t alone. According to the Heroic Imagination Project, one of the main characteristics of a hero is wanting to help people in need (Cherry, “The Psychology of Heroism”). That’s exactly why Mary wrote the book; she wanted to show broken people they weren’t alone.

Also, she is planning a huge, affordable grief retreat full of healing exercises and speakers. She truly believes God has given her a gift with words. More than likely after one of her speeches, someone will come up to her crying about how much her words impacted them. She continually inspires people, including myself, which is one of The Great Eight traits heroes tend to have (Cherry, “The Psychology of Heroism”). Ultimately, Mary has somehow turned such a daunting event in her life into a positive outcome and now helps people overcome the same event.

In conclusion, Mary Kenyon is a true hero. She overcame adversity, helps people in need, and is an inspiration for all who meet her. If you know someone who has tragically fallen into the cancer statistics, or someone who just simply lost a loved one, than I highly recommend you mention the up and coming affordable grief retreat to them. Mary’s words will truly change their