A Little Sad Today

[shaun]

Earlier today I heard about a friend, 54, who passed away from brain cancer.  It's kind of hit me a little hard today because we thought he was on the mend.  Things were looking good so we thought.  But after surgery 2 months ago it came back but this time with a vengeance.  They went back in last Friday and stopped the surgery because it was everywhere.  He died Tuesday evening.

Bill was kind of special to me.  He was a very relaxed kind of a guy.  Soft spoken and very kind.  He also had a Filipino wife.  They were married around 20 years and have two young sons.  The reason I post this is because most of us here are older men and we need to make provision for our wives after we are gone if life turns out that way.

Funny story about Bill, I don't think he would mind. He was preaching to a group of homeless men and was talking about submitting your whole being to God. He told us that he had one area that he had struggled in for several years. It was the issue of speeding when he drove his car. He was such a laid back person it was hard to believe he drove fast. Later that evening as I was going down a highway that had a posted speed limit of 55, I was going 65 when suddenly he passed me like I was sitting still. We used to joke about it a lot. Thanks for the good memories Bill, I'll miss you till we meet again in heaven.

[Willy The Londoner]

It can be a very sad time Shaun but the memory lives on.

There comes that time in ones life when people we know pass from this earth. At my age, every year, I hear of more and more people I know have passed away.   Many go and leave with hardly a moments thought afterwards.  Others leave a profound effect. 

My best friend died in 2007 his cancer was diagnosed earlier that year, in July, he went into hospital. He knew that he was not leaving that place again.  His wife would attend the hospital and stay the night and I would go there in the day time and stay until she returned that evening.  That lasted for 5 months until he died in December that year.
 
He went in as a strapping 225 pound fit man and die weighing less than 100 pound, he was a living skeleton.  But when I walked in every morning, right to his last day,  he never lost that welcoming smile. On his birthday he had more than 54 persons in the ward at one time such was his popularity.   I would say that in those six months he had probably close to 5000 people in total visiting and not one heard him complain once.

Although we had a great time in life, we would meet almost every day in the studio or for breakfast but it was that last six months that had the most profound effect on not only me but everyone from staff to other patients. 

I was fortunate that I have a lasting memory of him in so much that I recorded the last song he ever sang at an event.  Whenever I need a lift I pay that song.

His life left a lot of memories but it was the manner of how he died that really had a profound effect on me.

Willy