MY LUCKY BAMBOO

If the plant could thrive, maybe I could too, even with cancer

- David Meyers

My wife, Hannah, and I don’t usually keep houseplants. Any­ thing in pots gets either over­ watered or underwatered. But after my diagnosis with glioblastoma, a terminal brain cancer, with a progno­ sis of little more than a year to live, I loved the idea of having something new and green around.

My friend Mitch gave me what he said was a lucky bamboo plant in a deep­green pottery bowl with three pencil­size stalks braided to­ gether. We placed the plant in the living room window across from the couch where I spent much of the day. I smiled when I looked at it over the rim of the mug of coffee Hannah brought me each morning.

I told Hannah I wanted to care for the plant myself. When it didn’t imme­ diately turn yellow or brown or lose all its leaves, I was pleasantly surprised.