my uncle was diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer two and a half years ago. anaplastic thyroid cancer usually takes its victims within two years and has a less than 10% survival rate. since being diagnosed with this type of cancer he has also been battling cancer in the bones of his legs, cancer in his brain and cancer in his lungs! he has fought all of this harder than i could EVER imagine!
his diagnosis worsened - in fact, he was unable to attend our family reunion in Galveston a few weeks ago because he was in the hospital. the doctors at m.d. anderson in houston told him that they could not do anything more for him so they placed him in hospice care at his home. we were still hoping and praying for a miracle of some kind or at least to have him around for a little longer! unfortunately, he sub came to the cancer yesterday...fortunately he is no longer in pain like he was!
please allow me to reminisce about him for a moment - he was always the "fun uncle" that every kid wants to have (really, he was just a big kid himself)! he was my uncle (and my god father) and every year i went to visit him and my aunt during the summer. he took us to see movies like ghostbusters and howard the duck (which as an adult now i know must have been torture)! actually, i think it just gave him an excuse to see the movies since he didn't have any kids of his own yet! every summer he would teach me how to dive in his pool and by the next summer i would forget and he would teach me again! always patient and always kind!
due to his positive attitude, many prayers and all of the love (that he said he didn't know what he did to deserve) he was able to pull through and "fight the good fight" longer than anyone thought!
AND HE WILL BE GREATLY MISSED!
