My mom has a friend at work who has had pancreatic cancer for the past two years. Pancreatic cancer is known as a cancer with often a poor prognosis but this woman fought long and hard and survived long past her estimated time given by her doctors. She passed away this weekend. While this isn't a big surprise (her health has been steadily declining for a while now), it's still.. a sort of shock. This is truly a case of cancer snuffing out a life. I didn't know this woman personally but have heard her story through my mother since she was diagnosed (same time as myself). She was always optimistic and sure a cure would come to her. For a while, we all believed it too. Towards the end, her quality of life depleted and some of the stories were just plain sad. It seems like she was suffocated by it.. her life was depleted until she just couldn't go on. It's crazy when you think about it.. So, I try not to.

I have a friend who has AML too. I've been in contact with her since Christmas time and since we both have something huge in common, we've got this bond. A few months back, she relapsed and I went to Ohio to visit her. It was my privilege to be able to do that and I am thankful I had the opportunity. Her chemo put her in remission and she was on 'the list' to do a stem cell transplant scheduled for a couple of months out (standard relapse procedure). Well, she relapsed again and to make her longer story short, she is in the hospital now due to start her transplant process any day.. It's crazy when you think about it.. So, I try not to.