I regularly checked out Jake Thorn's (VoteHarder at Daily Kos and meteoriot at Docudharma) blog, Lose the Label, it's a cool blog and I would visit now and then to see how he was doing, as he was battling cancer.
Here's Jake:
In September Jake wrote a post saying he was cancer free.
His next post, written in October, talked about the problems he was having with his bone marrow transplant, but I didn't check the comment section of the post, where he said:
med update details...
the day after I made my last post, "REMISSION", I was readmitted to the hospital because the transplant side effects had gotten too difficult to endure at home. Since coming back in, I've been getting "gut rest" to combat the symptoms... at first,this meant a "clear liquid diet" which consisted of chicken broth, jello and a few juices but I deteriorated further and am now on an "NPO" diet, which means I can't eat anything but ice chips. I've been NPO for 5 days. I imagine it's kind of what being on a hunger strike would be like. I hate it but I have to do it. I still get nutrients from my "TPN bag", which is basically like getting food through a tube. I can't wait until I can eat again. The doctors say they'll let me have one new food at a time if I show improvement, but it's very frustrating and seems to move at a snail's pace. I'm trying very hard to be disciplined, but damn, the next time I eat a Double-Double I'm going to orgasm.
It was his second last comment on that blog. As I read down the comments I saw something from his cousin, Jackie:
Hi Jake, I just learned of your passing this morning. I am at a loss for words. I will always remember the times we shared when we were younger and how when we came to visit you would always be at the window waiting. I promise I will help take care of your mom and brothers. You are a true inspiration to me. I am glad you are now at peace.
Love your cousin, Jacksie
Jackie has set up a facebook page for Jake asking for donations in his memory to your local blood banks here.
From the comments over at Docudharma, Edger has some poignant information about Jake:
It was in meteoriot's... Jake's... second last essay here "Urgency" that he wrote about and told us he had been diagnosed with cancer, and he opens that essay with:
There's no good way to start this essay so I'm just gonna hit the ground running...
Last week I was diagnosed with cancer. It's an intense feeling to be 23 and knowing you might not see 24 and that the outcome isn't so much in your hands as it is you're just gonna have to wing it.
In the essay Jake writes a long list of "things I want to do after spending 3 weeks in the hospital and learning my life clock is shorter than everybody else's".
It's along list, but the three things in it that caught me most of all, above all the others he wished for are these:
Open the door when I sing at home so my Mom can hear, because she's always asked me to but I never have.
Give my little brothers more guitar lessons.
Volunteer at this hospital.
I hope he got the chance to do the first two. It looks like he got the chance to do the third...
Jake was a singer and a musician, and it seems those were two of his biggest passions in life.
He also liked to write and have and create an strong online presence, and I got curious and went to do a bit of searching...
It turns out that Jake had set up a YouTube user account using the name "activistmusician". His YouTube channel is here.
The top video/song on his channel is called "Streaks of White" (there is no video component to it - just a black screen).
Here is Jake playing his guitar and singing... about having cancer:
He also posted on his YouTube channel, down near the bottom of the page, a video he made about student activism, with him singing his own version of Country Joe McDonalds "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die":
Jake also had another page where he had set up an audio player with recordings of his music so people could listen to the songs or download them, at http://www.purevolume.com/...
I'll miss you Jake.