Ivan and the cancer

Ivan was a generic russian worker. He never really cared about anything. Even after the end of communism, he didnt switched life style. Concreting, relying on the spud, loudly whistling for good looking women if they walked by, was his daily routine. Screaming at trespassers if they seemed losers - but more silently in the past years, as unlike communism, nowdays, they might walk back with a machete in they hands, which Ivan could not handle. Pointless night with lots of alcohol drinking, where they can loudly and agressively discuss with other concrete laying managers, why they are the best people, and everyone else is shitty. Traders are shitty, capitalists are shitty, sciencists are shitty, doctors are shitty, engineers are shitty, artists are shitty, everything is shitty, except Ivan and his pals. Ivan had a lot of pals, but had no friends.

Decades were passing by, once Ivan felt pain, and felt himself very weak. He went to doctor, from inspection to inspection. Finally, he got the diagnose. Cancer, uncurable, no effective treatment. This was the first time Ivan realized his life is derailed. He started thinking to find out, what went wrong. He slowly found out: everything. His life was a lie. He was living the life of someone else. This was not him. Loudly grunting on everything and shoveling the shit in his whole life, eating crap food and drinking a lot of alcohol, not doing any research, refusing to learn anything, refusing to accept jesus in his heart, refusing to put time to sustain friendships, was the real reason he got cancer. His body and soul killed himself. Most of his friends were already dead.

Ivan had one last wish: travelling to the ocean, to swim in the icy water. Well, he had no money left, he was not able to work any more, and he used the money for the ineffective treatment to slow down the spread of the cancer in his body. He had no energy left as well. Transportation was too expensive, travelling by train wasnt an option. He used the last pennies to buy a relatively good bike with GPS from his neighbour for like $10, then he bought some food, conservated fish, took a bento box with rice and paste, took a few flackon of water, took his winter sleeping bag, his remaining money, and put everything in his backpack. He said farewell to his belowed ones.

He started biking in the cold autumn. The sea was 1000 kilometer away. Just after a kilometer, he felt like dying from thirst, so he had to drink a lot. He was weak, his body was very weak. He processed very slowly, a few 10 kilometers per day. It took him almost a month to arrive. He had to ride for the last few days without any food, althrough sometimes he found money, and then he used that to buy a hot-dog at a street shop. He felt extremely bad all the way. His only goal was to reach the ocean.

When he arrived in the ocean, he threw his cloths. It was winter, the beach already was icy. He pulled himself, to achieve the last meters of his final destination. He walked to the icy water. His body was on the verge of total desintegration. He swimmed for minutes in the cold water. Now, his dream came true, he was prepared to die. He went out to the shore, laid on the ground, closed his eyes.

And opened it. He was still alive. The pain was different compared to when he started. He went to a club room near the beach, dried himself, and dressed up. He told his story to a few tourists, who gave him some food. He had no other choice than cycle back to home. He refilled his flackons with water, and started biking to his home. 1000 kilometers again, in freezing cold. Biking home was just as terrible, as riding to the ocean. Due to the strong and freezing wind, he was barely able to process his path, so he needed another month to arrive home.

He was still alive. When he arrived home, he looked in the mirror. He looked very healthy. He lost most of his weight, his eyes was full of life. He was hungry, so he ate some, and went to the doctor again, who have sent him to inspection.

The cancer was gone. No tumors, no cancerous cells, his blood sample was showing he was totally healthy. He consulted to the doctors, to find out how he cured. Miracle? No. It turned out, due his two month long brutal bike tour, his body started to digest himself, to sustain its blood sugar levels. The cancer cells wasnt able to adapt to this new situation and slowly started to die. Later on, his immune system devoured all the cancer cells.

Ivan went to the ocean to die... and the old Ivan really died at that day. He was now a different person. Since then, the main hobby of Ivan is spirituality. He visits the sea twice a year using his bike.