Cancer claims another

[Bravo]

My BIL died this morning after a four year battle with kidney cancer. I know we have all been touched by this disease and I've had my share of losses...

1) A longtime friend from grade school and high school died of Hodgkins Disease when we were was 22. He had moved to Basking Ridge New Jersey and all of us were in college in various places when we got the news. Flew up there in the middle of the night on a snowy January evening and put him in the ground the next day.

2) Another friend went down at the age of 33 with lymphoma. She battled it for seven years. She had an autologous bone marrow transplant which put her into remission for two years (great health) and then it roared back and claimed her in 60 days.

3) My BIL was 54. Cancer runs in his family. He lost a brother (age 38) who lived in New York City to bladder cancer 7 years ago after being treated at Sloan Kettering.

After my BIL was diagnosed, I went with him to a Kidney Cancer meeting in Chicago to understand the best places in the country for treatment.

The first powerpoint slide they showed was Mortality Rate. 92% of patients die within 10 months. Pretty brutal.....

He's got two girls in college now. One is here at Birmingham-Southern and the other goes to St. John's College in Annapolis MD.

It just ain't fair.

 

[DaveE]

I'm so sorry to hear about this.

My neighbor of 13 years just sold his house and moved into town to be closer to doctors and to downsize for his wife. He's been fighting lung cancer for a couple of years and it hasn't been going well.

Talk about unfair. Since I've known him he's had prostate cancer, colon cancer and now lung cancer. He's one tough bastard but I think it's going to get him this time.

 

[Bravo]

Damn Dave....your friend is one tough bastard...all the best to him. Lung cancer is brutal.

 

[Rockford35]

The admin assistant in my GF's office was just diagnosed with cancer of the liver, lungs, spine and lymph nodes.

He was just diagnosed last fall with extreme diabetes and high blood pressure/hypertension. Seems his meds for hypertension were acting up against his meds for diabetes, so we went to see his doctor complaining of lethargy and pain in his shoulders.

After tests, they basically told him to live his life to the fullest, as there was nothing they could do.

Makes you stop and smell the roses.

R35

 

[Bravo]

Gosh how awful...all over everywhere. At least my BIL got to see his daughters graduate from high school and go on to college...

He's got a lot of friends and family around now which is great.

He was a good Irishman...last name Duffee.

 

[JEFF4i]

I'm so sorry Bravo,

My grandmother had breast cancer and actually beat it. Since then I always donate and use those breast cancer Winn grips, it isn't much, but it's something I guess.

 

[Dorkman53]

I'm really sorry to hear it. I lost a brother-in-law and an ex-brother-in-law who was still very much part of the family, both last year. One had prostate cancer, and the other had liver cancer. I can empathize with the pain.

 

[chollyred]

Sorry to hear about your BIL, Bravo. You and your family have my sincerest condolences.

My mother died from cancer 15 years ago. After watching her go through everything, the dreaded "C" word just scares me to no end. Hers was initially found in the brain. They were able to zap the tumor with stereotactic laser radiation and chemo. Things went well for a few months, then it reappeared in her liver. Like the doc said, it doesn't go from the brain to the liver without passing through a lot of other stuff first. Since she was a heavy smoker, they assume it started in her lungs, but never appeared there until the very end.

Awful, awful disease!

 

[Bravo]

It is amazing how it touches everyone...such an incredible ravager of our species.

I've known plenty of survivors too and they really relish being alive...

 

[Andy_79]

Is all very sad indeed. Sometimes it makes one wonder if there really is a God...

 

[Bravo]

I went over to my sister's house this morning...first time I've seen her since he passed away yesterday.

I knew there was big group of friends over there last night...when I came in at 8:30 this morning, the place was quiet and there were a lot of liquor and wine bottles in the kitchen and lots of casserole dishes lying around. I think they had a pretty good informal version of an Irish Wake for him.

His friends did a great job running interference for her with the funeral home.

She is greatly relieved about it all. He has been very hard to care for in the last couple of years...really cantankerous. He relates better to men and I have spent time with him in the hospital several times giving her a break.

We are having the funeral tomorrow and the burial is Sunday...this enables her girls to get back to college.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers here guys.

 

[goatster]

sorry for your loss.my bil`s sister died about a month ago from cancer she was 32.my grandfather had cancer 3 times before he died.lymph as a young man about 26,skin cancer when he was about 68 and prostate cancer for the last 5 yrs.although that wasnt what killed him it did take a toll on his life.

my sister just had a tumer removed from somewhere around her ovaries yesterday but it wasnt tested because they said it needed to be removed no matter what.im sure they will test it now that its out.

cancer is a nasty thing and it seems to run in my family my father lost 1/2 a lung a little over a yr ago to cancer.finally a yr later he decided to quite smoking.

ive dealt with it alot in my family and familys family and its always a bitch to hear about.

my condolences go out to your sister and your family.

 

[Bravo]

sorry for your loss.my bil`s sister died about a month ago from cancer she was 32.my grandfather had cancer 3 times before he died.lymph as a young man about 26,skin cancer when he was about 68 and prostate cancer for the last 5 yrs.although that wasnt what killed him it did take a toll on his life.

my sister just had a tumer removed from somewhere around her ovaries yesterday but it wasnt tested because they said it needed to be removed no matter what.im sure they will test it now that its out.

cancer is a nasty thing and it seems to run in my family my father lost 1/2 a lung a little over a yr ago to cancer.finally a yr later he decided to quite smoking.

ive dealt with it alot in my family and familys family and its always a bitch to hear about.

my condolences go out to your sister and your family.

Thanks for your note and watch out for your health...it definitely runs in his family too...

 

[Eracer]

I've lost two step-fathers to cancer. One had kidney cancer, and it was a mean bastard. I've tried to use their pain to help me become a better, more caring person. Stop and smell the roses? Yes. But also, share good times with those around you, and maybe a stranger or two along the way.

Strange, isn't it, how sometimes death can be a relief. Cancer can be such a painful way to go, we wish for death to ease the suffering. Tell me again why doctors can't use marijuana to ease the nausea of chemo (when nothing else works), and heroin to ease the pain of a terminally ill person?

 

[mont86]

My condolences.