Walk on

Our good friend Don is battling stage four esophagus cancer and losing, so obviously it has hit my wife and I hard. We have done what we can to support him and his wife as he has gone through many chemo treatments and trips to the hospital. After over two years of battling bravely, we now know that Don is not going to be one of the miraculous ones that survives cancer. I can't even believe that I am writing this, as he is such a strong man, with a will to match. I thought that this would be one of those "moments" in life where love, support, attitude, medicine and willpower would combine to prevail over a horrible disease. Apparently, I was wrong.

I started writing this post after I had completed a 13.1 mile Jimmy Fund walk to support Dana Farber and all that they do. I wanted to relay the day's events in chronological order, and attach pictures to show all of the incredible people gathering together for this cause. I wanted to say how proud I was to be contributing to a worthy cause, and how I hoped others would join in some sort of fundraising for a good cause.

Then I came across this picture of my dear friend Don:

This is a photo of him at or around the time of his initial diagnosis, all 275 pounds of him. Here, he is full of life, and loves to laugh, work, play games, and oh-my what a beautiful singing voice. I mean, one of those voices that you wonder why he isn't singing professionally kind of voices.

Here is a photo of him from March of 2010, which doesn't even begin to show you how he is now:

Don now weighs in at about half of his original weight, yes that's around 135 pounds, just awful. He still loves to laugh, when he has the energy for it. He can't work. Worst of all he can't even sing anymore. He is a mere shell of himself, literally and figuratively.

I could go into all sorts of depressing thoughts that I have had while trying to understand all of the "whys". I don't want to do that; I just want you to know that there is a man still living among us that has a huge heart and soul, and he has taught us all a lot about love and persevering through the worst adversities that anyone should have to go through. He has done this all with as many smiles as he can muster, and a will to survive, no matter the pain.

The most heartbreaking thing is that he was the most shocked person when the doctors told him just recently that there isn't anything else they can do for him and that this cancer would take him from this world. He really thought with every fiber of his being that he would beat this, that he would survive as he always has.

On September 12th, 2010, I walked for my friend, Don V. I thought about how any discomfort I could feel walking that distance paled in comparison to what he has endured. I raised almost $900.00 through the generosity of others to help fight cancer, and to improve treatment and care for patients and their families. It was a great day of giving, caring and love, and I look forward to doing more of this.

If you haven't already, I hope you can all do something similar to help others, and to make this world a better, more beautiful place to live life in. Most of all, please do what I must do; remember this blog and promise to actually live life while you're here.

Walk on sweet brother, walk on.

This blog's for you Pat!

Jeanne and I played games and had dinner at the home of Pat and Mike, two dear friends of ours last night. We had our customary wonderful time, ate some fantastic Kibbee (pronounced kibbay, a delicious Syrian dish made with ground lamb), and discussed a wide range of topics.

One brief topic was about blogs. I discussed how great Pat's most recent one (about her and Mike's trip to Ireland) was, especially the pictures of the Emerald Isle, and she discussed how she'd really like to see me blogging again. So here ya go, my fine friend:)

Pat and I met several years ago at a weekly writing class being held at the University of New Hampshire (U.N.H.) I went to see if I could further my thought of becoming a published writer, thinking that a small group's critiquing would tell me if I had what it took to do this whole writing thing. There were about ten or so people in that class, all with varying reasons to be there. Some were there like me, to see if they could start a career in writing, others came as part of their work, and still others brought nearly finished stories and novels.

Pat fit into that last category, and though she was fairly quiet during class, I was quite intimidated at first. Her work in progress was over 700 pages long! I thought to myself; why am I even in the same room as this person? She's a valedictorian, has all of those pages neatly organized in a binder, and all I have is a collection of a hundred or so dis-jointed pages of crap!

The weeks went by, and we didn't really chat that much, and I didn't think we would or could have much in common to begin a friendship. Then, one day, all of that changed, when, on the way out of class one night, she asked me that heartwarming question that will forever remain etched in my memory;

"Hey Dave, you're a hunter right? If I wanted to kill someone with a gun, how would I go about that?"

Of course, she was asking me this question as a part of her novel that required killing someone with a gun (at least that's what she told me), but the friendship was borne just the same, and we got to know each other a bit better. The person who I thought might be a little unapproachable turned out to be one of the most open-minded people I have ever known. She and Mike are both that way, and it is such a pleasure to visit with them, as no subject is out of bounds, which creates such a relaxed atmosphere.

Pat has gone on to realize her dream of becoming published a few times over now, with two thrilling novels; A Band of Roses and Fiery Roses (with a third in the trilogy on the way), as well as some short stories (one of which appears in The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance). I am so proud of her, and happy that her hard work has begun to pay off.

Most importantly, I am so glad that I decided to take that writing class those many years ago. No, I haven't become a world famous author, but I have gotten to know two amazing people that mean the world to me. Jeanne and I have shared many days of laughter, ideas, fantastic food and some great experiences with them. Thank you Pat, and thank you Mike for having us into your home and your lives, we love you both.

So there's your blog Pat, what do you t'ink?

-Dave