Far and away, cancer. I've lost too many relatives too quickly--one just 2 weeks ago. I have had neurosurgery in a contraption known as a gamma knife. (Stereotactical radiosurgery for those who really want to know.) 201 points of radiation hit your head and you don't feel, hear, see, smell or taste a thing. It just happens. The gamma knife is usually a last or only resort for tumors that just cannot be taken out because of their size or location. It shrinks them over time. I did not go because I had cancer; it's sometimes used to shrink blood vessels in those who have had a stroke. (Hand up.)

Here's a good description:"Although GK is called radiosurgery, there is no cutting involved. 201 "beams" of cobalt-60 gamma radiation are focused on the region to be treated. The beams go through the skull in different spots, with each beam too weak to hurt normal tissue. However, when they all come together in the area to be treated, they are then strong enough to destroy the tumor."

But this 5-ton, $32M machine was located in the lower (basement) level of a gorgeous medical office building. It's so heavy it can't go on an upper floor.Yur head gets locked into the thing--correction, a frame is screwed into your head and that's locked into the gamma knife machine. They do provide drugs--lots of them. The Radiation Oncology waiting room is the size of a basketball court. I was by far the healthiest one there--I was there for the final of seven neurosurgery procedures, this being the only one there., but I sat in that same waiting room (I couldn't find a picture of it online, only from looking down from what appears to be the 6th floor--neurology & neurosurgery. I know it well.)

The looks on some of the faces were like the people had just given up.

Oy vey, in 2 hours I go back for a check-up. I'm 3 years out.

The thought of that waiting room chills me.

Yeah cancer, specifically acute lymphocytic leukemia which hit most children. Nothing is more heartbreaking than seeing a child fear death and not realize they are not going to have a future.

Obviously cancer in all it's forms. You also see so many children with brain tumors and all sorts of cancer. This is the worst disease there is as it comes in so many different ways. They are now discovering that the different forms need to be treated differently.