The exact workings of a Lazarus Pit vary from author to author. I'm sticking with a fairly common idea of one. Certain rare ingredients (of mysterious origin, I would presume) are mixed in. That, combined with the Earth's magnetic field (a Leyline), "power" the pit and give it its restorative properties.

The question is: Where does the ash come from? I discussed it with my Ra's expert, and we've come to the conclusion that the ash must be the residue left over from the ingredients and/or anything that might have sloughed off from the person immersed into the healing waters. If there has been reference as to where the pit ash comes from, I've missed it. Should anyone know where it's referenced (if at all), and you feel inclined to educate me on this, please do! Until then, I'm sticking with my idea of where the stuff comes from.

Now, before anyone argues with me on Eddie's change of hair color from black to brown, please believe me that this is possible. Yes, I'm very aware that his hair color change might have been nothing more than artistic license when being colored. However, most of his appearances in the mainstream comics have shown him with black hair. The animated version of the Riddle has red/reddish hair. Still, many readers of Hush commented on this change of hair color. Hence, I'm making mention of it here.

Having gone through chemotherapy myself, and losing all of my hair, I will say that it is indeed possible for your hair to come back differently. Any cancer patient who has lost his or her hair will tell you the same. Mine was pretty straight when I lost it, with enough body in it that it had a bit of wave to it. Now it's coming back far curlier than it ever was. That's texture. However, many people that I have talked to, including some of my female doctors who have gone through the same, have commented on a change of color. Where some of them had graying hair before chemo, their hair grew back whatever color it had been before going grey. In a couple of cases, I've heard of the hair coming back a completely different color. Where it had once been brown, it might come back blond, or red. So Eddie's change of hair color is not impossible.

I've decided to end this part of the story here. My purpose for writing this was to bring attention to the cancer part of it. Personally, I feel that if I continued under this title, I'll lose track of what I was trying to do in the first place. This does not mean that I am not going to finish what I started! I will continue with my theories on what happened before Hush came to Gotham City. It will just be under a new title. Hopefully, I'll have that out before too long.

For those of you who stumbled across this and have stuck with reading it, I thank you. I have received feedback from people that I never expected, and I've been surprised that this story has touched some in the way it has.

However, I don't feel that it has gone as far as it could have, it being a fanfiction, rather than something that DC actually published. I had hoped that Jeph Loeb had brought the topic of cancer up because he wanted to bring more attention to it. When I asked, he explained that he had no intention of making a statement out of it. The simple fact was that it was a plot device. He did end up learning more about cancer than he wanted to by the simple fact that his son was diagnosed with cancer soon after he had turned the story idea into his editor. I think he feels somewhat different about it now, but he still didn't do very much in bringing attention to what has become an ever-increasing epidemic.

I know that I've gotten preachy here and there on this topic, but, as many of you know, I have cancer myself. With my own experiences, and those of my fellow cancer support members, I have tried to take what we have all learned, and share that information with everyone. Everything from what a patient goes through and feels at the moment of diagnosis to how a patient views him/herself while going through treatment. I can only hope that I have brought understanding to people out there, whether they know someone who is going through treatment, or have just been curious about the grittier side of cancer treatment. Each person has a different experience in treatment, so those who have read this who have gone through treatment themselves, know that things can go from ok to really bad at a moments notice.

I also wanted to try and at least crack the stigma that cancer patients seem to have. As I said earlier in my notes, people seem to think of us as fragile, and incapable of handling anything outside of our treatment. They tiptoe around us, act as if we're going to collapse and die at the drop of a hat, and basically forget that we're human too. The most common complaint/rant from those in my cancer group is the way people automatically treat you differently when you mention that you have cancer, even those who have known you for years. In many cases, we have all lost many "friends" because they just don't know how to handle the idea of cancer in someone they called a friend.

For those wondering how to treat someone with cancer, treat them as you did before. Be aware that they have cancer, but don't make it into what they are. We are not our cancer. We are people living with cancer who are just looking to be treated as they were before. We don't let it define us, so why should you?

I'd like to dedicate this story to those who have lost their lives because of this disease, and to those who are still fighting. Two that I would like to mention are my best friend's dad, Bill Weaver, and one of my fellow cancer group friends, Erin Gannon. Bill lost his fight with throat cancer just after Thanksgiving 2003. Erin lost her fight with malignant fibrous histiocytoma April 2004. Both of them are dearly missed.

The Beast Within / Back