[Johnny Cool]

I spent time at the Grid over the weekend, and checked out there "Cancer Stories" forum.

Not to worry, I won't post all of them here. Just two ....

Daddysgirl
New Member


Joined: 13 Jul 2005
Posts: 2


Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 12:37 pm Post subject: Daddy
I just lost my Dad a month ago to cancer. I sat with him the whole time and it was the worst thing I have ever seen. It all started in April of 2004. My dad was in a motorcycle accident and I was right behind him. Someone pulled out in front of himand he could not stop in time. He had to have rods put in his ankle and lost most of the musle in his shoulder. He couldn't even give us a hug. Well he recovered from that and our lives were getting back on track when in November he said that his stomach was hurting so bad that my mom took him to the hospital. I was not long after that they said that he has Liver Cancer. This came very hard for me because my dad has rasied me, my whole life by himself until aboiut 5 years ago when he re-married. My dad was my life and to think that he was not going to see me turn 21 was hard. We did everything that we could. We took him to Cancer Center Of America in Tulsa OK and he was treted there until they told him that there was nothing else that they could do to send him to die. We then tried Coral Calsium and that seemed to work for a while. You could see the pain in his eyes after a while and we knew. My dad was not ready to go even until the day he died. We lost my dad May 24th 2005. I myself am having a hard time. Since my dad was the only one in my life my whole life was lived around him. I'm only 20 my dad will never see me get married to my boyfried or even know my kids. I kinda feel empy inside and don't know what to do. If anyone has some thoughts please let me know thanks.


And this one is only about 25 minutes old ... from a Team Mate at our friendly rivals at Team GB:

sujo1
Senior Member


Joined: 27 Jul 2002
Posts: 838
Location: Somewhere in time

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 5:20 pm Post subject:
Hi All, Have not posted for a while. Been busier than a One Legged Man in a butt kick'en contest. No time for anything fun like posting on the forums. Got a call from California yesterday. A very good friend has passed away. I had been remiss in my writing to him. Others that called said that He was complaining about his stomach. He went to the doctor. He never left the hospital. He died 5 hours after they found cancer in his stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys and spleen. I will miss him.

A small blessing to all of you:

May your troubles be less, your blessings more, and nothing but happiness come through your door!

[Pbrainz]

[oVo]

/looks for more computers to add to the crunching effort

[Johnny Cool]

I just saw this post at the Grid.org only hours ago ...

smcdaniel2
New Member

Joined: 09 Sep 2005
Posts: 3

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:40 pm Post subject: Team Members Needed
Clusterkci is inviting members to join our team. We have at present a 13 Node cluster and may be adding a few more nodes in the future.

I have a special interest in the Oxford Cancer Research Project. I have lost two co-workers to cancer and am terminal myself with Prostate Cancer. The KCI Inc IT team would welcome your help on this project.

Sam McDaniel MIS
Ted Glass Admin

-----------

Sam even included a smiley before "Clusterkci is inviting members to join our team".
/sighs deeply

This post has been edited by Johnny Cool: 13 September 2005 - 07:54 PM

[Johnny Cool]

A year ago today, Trée lost his Father to Cancer. If you can, go to his blog site where he has a tribute for his Dad.

Trée, sending the warmest regards and great karma your way.

http://tgeorge123.blogspot.com/

This post has been edited by Johnny Cool: 17 November 2005 - 06:57 PM

[oVo]

I must go visit his blog again, I haven't been to my "extra" sites in some time now. Thanks for the notice JC.

[Johnny Cool]

Ugh! No, this is not a Cancer story ... yet I felt I had to post this.

Just now learned that some Lady I have known for six years (professionally) has been diagnosed with Scleroderma.

Scleroderma has no known cure. There are two stages of this disease. One of them is fatal, even though it make take years to die. She will find out in a matter of days.

Yet another reason I crunch like *all* of you.
/sighs[/quote]

Maybe we should *all* have been born a 1,000 years hence.

Since that is not going to happen, may we all crunch on.

I am going to post this on the Otherboard as well.

She is just 30 years old, happily married with one child.

There is simply too many diseases on our tiny Planet.

This post has been edited by Johnny Cool: 27 February 2006 - 07:24 PM

[popeyecu]

The girl I work with at the computer shop was just diagnosed with cervical cancer (I think) last week. She had a test done about 3 years ago but no one ever followed up with her on the results. She's 23 almost 24, and has always wanted to have children, but that may not be possible now. This after my boss just beat a year long fight with throat cancer, so far anyways. He'll never speak the same again though having only one vocal cord.

And here I am smoking another cigarette. It makes me glad to be able to do something, no matter how small.

["Q"]

Dang JC, sorry to hear that.

I give her my best.

And yes, this is the very reason we crunch.

[oVo]

Terrible story JC. Thanks for posting it.

[Spanky]

And why I crunch...

My Dad has Cancer - contracted it a year or so ago. It started as backpain - a CAT scan revealed a tumour next to his spine (and therefore inoperable). Two courses of chemo later and he isn't much better. He has secondaries now, one behind his eye, and one on his lung. The chemo itself deprived him of the ability to walk properly.

He's currently confined to a wheelchair, and is just a pale shadow of his former self. I don't see him as often as I should, but every time I wonder whether it's for the last time.

Whilst it may be too late for Dad, I hope that initatives like hdc over at WCG increase the chances of others to defeat this incipid disease.

Jonathan.

[Johnny Cool]

Jonathan, after reading your post, I am struggling for words ...

I am very sorry to hear this, and I will keep your Father in my thoughts. We all hope that he gets much better.

Sending great vibes and karma his way ...
/sighs deeply

[Johnny Cool]

 

Pixar grants girl's dying wish to see 'Up'
Company sent DVD so Huntington Beach girl, 10, could watch it.
By ANNIE BURRIS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

To find out how readers worldwide are responding to Colby Curtin's story click here .

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Colby Curtin, a 10-year-old with a rare form of cancer, was staying alive for one thing – a movie.

From the minute Colby saw the previews to the Disney-Pixar movie Up, she was desperate to see it. Colby had been diagnosed with vascular cancer about three years ago, said her mother, Lisa Curtin, and at the beginning of this month it became apparent that she would die soon and was too ill to be moved to a theater to see the film.

After a family friend made frantic calls to Pixar to help grant Colby her dying wish, Pixar came to the rescue.

The company flew an employee with a DVD of Up, which is only in theaters, to the Curtins’ Huntington Beach home on June 10 for a private viewing of the movie. 

The animated movie begins with scenes showing the evolution of a relationship between a husband and wife. After losing his wife in old age, the now grumpy man deals with his loss by attaching thousands of balloons to his house, flying into the sky, and going on an adventure with a little boy. 

Colby died about seven hours after seeing the film.

With her daughter’s vigil planned for Friday, Lisa Curtin reflected about how grateful she is that Pixar – and "Up" – were a part of her only child’s last day.

“When I watched it, I had really no idea about the content of the theme of the movie,” said Curtin, 46. “I just know that word ‘Up’ and all of the balloons and I swear to you, for me it meant that (Colby) was going to go up. Up to heaven.”

Pixar officials declined to comment on the story or name the employees involved. 

THE PREVIEWS

Colby was diagnosed with vascular cancer on Dec. 23, 2005 after doctors found a tumor in her liver. At the time of her death, her stomach was about 94 inches around, swollen with fluids the cancer wouldn’t let her body properly digest. The rest of her body probably weighed about 45 pounds, family friend Carole Lynch said. 

Colby had gone to Newport Elementary School and was known for making others laugh, family friend Terrell Orum-Moore said. Colby loved to dance, sing, swim and seemed to have a more mature understanding of the world than other children her age, Orum-Moore said. 

On April 28, Colby went to see the Dream Works 3-D movie "Monsters Vs. Aliens" but was impressed by the previews to "Up."

“It was from then on, she said, ‘I have to see that movie. It is so cool,’” Lynch said. 

Colby was a movie fan, Lisa Curtin said, and she latched onto Pixar’s movies because she loved animals. 

Two days later Colby’s health began to worsen. On June 4 her mother asked a hospice company to bring a wheelchair for Colby so she could visit a theater to see "Up." However, the weekend went by and the wheelchair was not delivered, Lisa Curtin said.

By June 9, Colby could no longer be transported to a theater and her family feared she would die without having seen the movie. 

At that point, Orum-Moore, who desperately wanted Colby to get her last wish, began to cold-call Pixar and Disney to see if someone could help. 

Pixar has an automated telephone answering system, Orum-Moore said, and unless she had a name of a specific person she wanted to speak to, she could not get through. Orum-Moore guessed a name and the computer system transferred her to someone who could help, she said.

Pixar officials listened to Colby’s story and agreed to send someone to Colby’s house the next day with a DVD of "Up," Orum-Moore recalled.

She immediately called Lisa Curtin, who told Colby. 

“Do you think you can hang on?” Colby’s mother said.

“I’m ready (to die), but I’m going to wait for the movie,” the girl replied.

THE MOVIE

At about 12:30 p.m. the Pixar employee came to the Curtins’ home with the DVD.

He had a bag of stuffed animals of characters in the movie and a movie poster. He shared some quirky background details of the movie and the group settled in to watch Up. 

Colby couldn't see the screen because the pain kept her eyes closed so her mother gave her a play-by-play of the film. 

At the end of the film, the mother asked if her daughter enjoyed the movie and Colby nodded yes, Lisa Curtin said. 

The employee left after the movie, taking the DVD with him, Lynch said. 

“He couldn’t have been nicer,” said Lynch who watched the movie with the family. “His eyes were just welled up.”

After the movie, Colby’s dad, Michael Curtin, who is divorced from Lisa Curtin, came to visit.

Colby died with her mom and dad nearby at 9:20 p.m.

Among the Up memorabilia the employee gave Colby was an “adventure book” – a scrap book the main character’s wife used to chronicle her journeys.

“I’ll have to fill those adventures in for her,” Lisa Curtin said. 


Contact the writer: aburris@ocregister.com or 949-553-2905

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER 

A heart breaking story ...

[Mike]

Damn. Every once in a while a company does right and throws my preconceived notions of them out the window.

[Johnny Cool]

My Dearest Aunt Phillis, this post is for you. You left us this morning suddenly.

Tonight, the brightest star in the Heavens above will be you. I know it and I will watch for it. You will be sorely missed for many reasons. Your ever smiling face, your ever positive attitude and of course, your great attitude towards Family and Friends. Many of us are now weeping ... 

I love you ... 

[ethelred]

JC, you have my deepest sympathy.

[RaymondFO]

JC, I am sorry for your loss and you have my condolences. A death of a loved one is never easy, and is very trying. You have my sympathy during this trying time.