My Grandpa Ed died when I was 5 from lung cancer. He smoked a pipe a lot but he had a good laugh and a comfy lap. He drove a crane out at the concrete plant on fletcher road. Resided in a trailer house. But he knew how to live the High Life.
My Track Coach in High School, Rob Armogast, died from stomach cancer. He coached me to a 4:18 mile when I was 18 and helped me discover the capacity of my lungs and what they were capable of. Then he died suddenly 3 months after I graduated. No one knew he had it.
My Grandma Faye (my father's step mother) died from stomach cancer when I was 26. A retired school teacher from Lincoln, she touched many lives beyond mine.
I met and rode bikes with Lance Armstrong when he was first making his comeback from testicular cancer. I hear he's doing pretty well for himself these days.
My Grandma Helen died from cancer when I was 29. Last time I saw her she told me more about my parents divorce than either one of them had the balls to do. I'll never forget that conversation.
One of my co-workers at the City of Fort Collins was diagnosed with prostrate cancer 4 years ago. He is still with us fighting the good fight here, striping bike lanes and designing round-abouts.
My step-dad Al was diagnosed with prostrate cancer 3 years ago, and he to is doing fine these days.
My Grandma Alda died from cancer when I was 33. Just last year. She taught me many things that I couldn't even begin to share here.
These were all the people I've known personally who've been killed or touched by cancer, until today.
Because today I have to add one more.
My Grandpa Chester died this afternoon from advanced lung cancer that none of us knew about until about a month ago. He taught me about hardwork because he was a farmer. He taught me that anything could be fixed or made with your own two hands. He taught me you didn't need an eduacation beyond the 8th grade to be smart and make it in this world - what mattered was perseverance and attitude. He taught me about loyalty as he made a marriage with Alda that lasted over 60 years. He taught me about responsibility as he stayed by my Grandmothers side as she fought this goddamn disease with her frail 80+ year old body for almost 4 years.
Fucking cancer.
Mar 7, 2007
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5 comments:
That sucks, sorry bro.
Dave, sorry to hear about your loss.
Cancer is a terrifying thing. I hope there is a cure some day.
dave, really sorry to hear about your loss. from the sounds of it, your grandfather lived a good, honest life. i hope he went with out too much suffering.
my mother in-law's husband has been battling a bad from of prosate cancer now for a couple of years. the shitty thing is that most of the treatment wipes you out and its just a mitigating factor.
my condolances to you and your family, brother.
sorry about your loss buddy
Chester sounds like a good man. The world could use more people of that stripe.
Regarding cancer, I love to be outside but I'm in an extremely high-risk group for skin cancer. A little under a year ago I had a malignant basal-cell carcinoma cut out of my face -- and I expect that I'll need to be vigilant about that sort of thing for the remainder of my days.
If cancer is what takes me out of this world, I hope that I'm with a partner as loyal and true as your Grandpa.
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