Loss

No stories today. An old friend has died.

She was a lovely, lovely young woman when I knew her. We were on dance team together, we were both editors on our school paper so many years ago. She went on to become an oncologist and was killed by the disease she sought to treat in others.

She was 35.

She was my friend a long time ago.

Here is an excerpt from her obituary:

From the fall of 2005 until just days before her death she was an active contributor to the youngsurvival.org message board for young woman afflicted with cancer. The comments posted before and after her death speak to the value of her presence to the other women on the board. One said. “I think we all immediately moved towards her post because we knew the tone: always kind, informative, loving, with humor thrown in for good measure. We will truly miss her.” Another said, “I remember posting about a letter someone left me that said “chemo makes tumor spread in MICE,” Melinda replied, “YOU AREN’T A MOUSE.” I read her comment, laughed, turned off my computer and had a great day.”