She rubs at her rib cage
Her face tells me she is in pain
Always the strong one
She shrugs it off
And keeps on keeping on.

Time passes and I notice changes
She is dropping weight
Her beautiful face looks tired
Dark circles under her brilliant blue eyes
Thin arms covered in bruises
I ask her if she is feeling well
She worries more for me than for herself
Again she shrugs it off
And keeps on keeping on.

Our grandma fought a valiant battle
Against the beast
In the end it stole her life
But never her smile.
Shelly hesitantly tells me she is in pain
In my heart I knew she had been for a while
But she shrugged it off
And she kept on keeping on.

No longer am I silent
I make her an appointment 
My doctor is wonderful I reassure her.
The dreadful day when she has the procedure
I beg God to take me in her place
To let her be free from all danger.
Her eyes are so full of fear
We both know what the cause
Long before the doctor does.
The beast has come again
This time to claim my dear Shelly.
My sister, my confidante, my critic, my friend.
We can't shrug this off
We keep on keeping on.

On her birthday of all days
The removal of damaged pieces of her
The beast, the cancer, the taker of dreams.
She wakes up and looks at me
Her eyes asking how long can I keep on keeping on?

I say they took away as much as they could
Happy birthday, my Shelly
She touches her belly
There is a long line of sutures
Surgery, chemo, radiation
Doctor after doctor
Hospital after hospital
Medication after medication
Appointment after appointment
Diagnosis after diagnosis.
I am now part of this storm

It rages against the small frame that is my sis, my Shelly
When she is too weak I am finally her strength
And I rage against the beast on her behalf.
We hug each other and shrug
It really sucks to see her so unlike herself
I send her all of my prayer, faith and every ounce of my love
We will not let her go without a fight
Into the endless night
So we keep on keeping on.