飛機上的陌生人

In March 2007， I was recovering from major surgery for breast cancer and going through a divorce. It was a terrible time， and I was spending most of my days at home keeping everything to myself. Then my Today Show colleague Matt Lauer threw me a lifeline by asking whether I felt well enough to tape a “Where in the World？” segment.

“Why don’t you pick a couple of days and go to Ireland and escape？” he suggested kindly. I thought it would be a great way to forget about it all， so I jumped at the chance.

The trip was fun because I was living in the moment， but by the time I got on the plane to go home， I wasn’t feeling well. My plan was to curl up in a ball and sleep for the entire flight. I had my earbuds in my hand； they were an inch away from going in when the guy next to me turned to me and said， “Hi. Howya doin’？”

I thought， Oh no.

Then he said， “I recognize you from somewhere.”

“I work on the Today Show，” I told him， still holding my earbuds.

He smiled at me. “How’s Matt？ Is Matt nice？”

“Yeah，” I said. “Matt’s nice.”

“How’s Al？ Al seems funny.”

All I wanted to do was sleep， but he had kind eyes and looked like a good-hearted guy. So we continued making small talk.

Then he noticed I was wearing a compression sleeve on my arm and asked， “What is that？”

I told him I’d had a “procedure” and needed the sleeve to fly， hoping we could change the subject.

But he continued， “What procedure did you have？”

“I had an operation，” I said 1）vaguely. He was still curious， so I finally said， “I had breast cancer. But， boy， I hope that’s not the first thing you think of when you get off this flight， telling your kids， ‘Hey， I sat next to this girl with breast cancer.’？”

He paused for a moment and then said， “What’s wrong with that？ Breast cancer is part of you， like going to college or getting married.”

I could feel my eyes filling up.

“Let me give you some advice： Don’t 2）hog your journey. It’s not just for you，” he said. “Think of how many people you could help.”

I had tears coming down my face， and I said to him， “I can’t believe I’m crying in front of you. I don’t even know you.”

“Look， you have a choice in life，” he said. “You can either put your stuff deep in your pockets and take it to your grave， or you can help someone.”

Even though I’m on a show where we’re pretty open， I was really struggling then. I’ve always been a very private person， and aside from the few people who needed to know， I’d kept my illness secret. I didn’t want to be defined by my weakness.

But this man， whose name was Ken Duane， showed me that my illness gave me strength—because it gave me the ability to lighten someone else’s load. I decided at that moment that I was going to share my story publicly. Later that year， I talked about my illness and my conversation with Ken on air with 3）Ann Curry.

Years later， a producer who used to work on our show mentioned that her boyfriend was in charge of an event， and she thought I knew the 4）honoree. It was Ken.

He and I hadn’t seen each other since we’d met on the plane， but Ken’s best friend 5）wound up contacting me and asking me to help present Ken with a Father of the Year award at a luncheon in New York. Ken was sitting there grinning as I said， “He’s touched a lot of people’s lives. He obviously touched a stranger like me.”

Everything 6）came full circle a few years ago when he was diagnosed with 7）prostate cancer. He called me and said he now understood what it felt like. I told him it seemed as if he’d always understood： It’s better to share and heal than to try to hide away.

He is healthy now， and I am forever grateful that I never got that trans atlantic nap.

2007年3月，我正處于乳癌手術的恢復期，同時在辦理離婚。那是段糟糕的日子，大多數時間我都呆在家里，一個人扛著所有事情。然后，我主持的《今日秀》節目的同事馬特·勞厄爾給我扔了一條救生索——他問我的狀態能否錄一檔名為《究竟在哪里？》的節目。

“你何不抽出幾天時間去愛爾蘭，逃離這一切？”他友善地建議道。我想這會是一個能讓我把這一切拋諸腦后的好方法，所以我抓住了這個機會。

那次旅程很有趣，因為我盡情享受了每一分每一秒，但是當我登上回程的飛機時，我有點兒不舒服。我打算蜷成一團，在睡夢中度過這次飛行。我雙手拿著耳塞，在它們距離我耳朵僅有一英寸時，坐在我旁邊的那個家伙轉向我，對我說：“嗨，你好嗎？”

我想，天，不要。

然后他說：“我在哪里見過你。”

“我在《今日秀》節目組里工作，”我對他說，依然拿著我的耳塞。

他對我投以微笑。“馬特怎么樣？他人好嗎？”

“挺好的”我說。“馬特人挺好的。”

“那厄爾怎么樣？厄爾看起來很有趣。”

我只想睡覺，但是他眼里流露著善意，看著像個心地善良的人。所以我們繼續閑聊著。

然后他注意到我手臂上戴著壓縮護臂袖套，問道：“那是什么？”

我告訴他我做了一個“手術”，坐飛機時需要戴著這個，我希望我們能換個話題。

但他繼續問道：“什么手術？”

“我開了刀，”我模棱兩可地說道。他還是表現出好奇，所以我最后終于說了出來：“我做了乳癌手術。但是，小子，我希望你下飛機后不要想著第一時間告訴你的朋友，‘嘿，我旁邊坐了個患乳癌的女生。……