Good News, Bad News

Yesterday was Hannah's 6th birthday. I was invited to celebrate with them last night. She opened a pile of presents --enough gifts to outfit a shelter of homeless kids. She wanted us to sing happy birthday during her dinner, not just when cutting the cake. She hugged me and told me that I smelled good which was a miracle because I had not showered that day.


This morning I'm filled with sadness because our co-worker, Matt died this morning. I tried curing him with all sorts of strange things and none of my "cures" worked. He recently turned 44 years old.


I wrote about Matt for A Taste of Yellow last October. He died of metastatic melanoma so put on your GD sunscreen. He leaves behind his young, beautiful wife, Julie and his two lively children among assorted tons of other family members. He leaves behind us and we are sad.

Photo courtesy of LodiDesignStudios

The last time I talked to Matt was two days ago. When I say "talked," I mean exchanged emails. He sent my sister an email saying he was back in the hospital and they wanted to do more brain surgery. I said something like "How can they do brain surgery on something that doesn't exist?" Or some such compliment. I never heard back though Matt would have smiled. Turned out they could not operate because they found a large blood clot in his lung. Just yesterday the doctor came in and said it was time to stop treatment (in other words it was time to stop the torture). The doctor's announcement must have been the permission Matt needed to stop fighting. He wanted so badly to stay alive for his family. Can you blame him?


In an email to my sister, Matt wrote, "Get some work done. I'll beat this thing..."


Brain or no brain, Matt, you will be missed by many.