We have had many delightful Kossacks take part in the Monday Night Cancer Club during our three years of existence. Fortunately, many of us are still alive and feisty as ever. But sadly, we have also lost many of our friends as well.
There are four who come quickly to mind for me. (And please note that while we have also lost other Kossacks to cancer, in this instance I am thinking of those who were regular participants in the MNCC at least for a time.) I hope you join me after the orange funeral bouquet for more discussion of each.
Monday Night Cancer Club is a Daily Kos group focused on dealing with cancer, primarily for cancer survivors and caregivers, though clinicians, researchers, and others with a special interest are also welcome. Volunteer diarists post Monday evenings between 7-8 PM ET on topics related to living with cancer, which is very broadly defined to include physical, spiritual, emotional and cognitive aspects. Mindful of the controversies endemic to cancer prevention and treatment, we ask that both diarists and commenters keep an open mind regarding strategies for surviving cancer, whether based in traditional, Eastern, Western, allopathic or other medical practices. This is a club no one wants to join, in truth, and compassion will help us make it through the challenge together.
I think badger is the most recent MNCC Kossack we have mourned. He was a long-time Kossack, with a 4-digit user ID! Such a kind man he was, so calm and measured but with a great eye for beauty as well as for humor. I loved and would recommend his diary about beavers as firefighters, which unfortunately I did not read until after his death. I know he would very much have appreciated a longer life; he did the best he could to seek successful treatment. Yet when he knew that was not to be, he was as philosophical as always. He had a good life. He loved and was loved in return. I am grateful that his wife was thoughtful enough to let us know of his passing, in the final word....from Badgers wife.
Before that, we lost ulookarmless. A brilliant man with an astonishingly accomplished life, CJ was a force here at Daily Kos during his relatively short time on the site. What a legacy he has left, on and offline, professionally and personally. Nurse Kelley eulogized him beautifully upon his passing. I am sure that many of us miss him keenly still, along with the many who loved him in real life.
A little bit earlier, shadowplayer died. He was a private man, quiet and reserved, but a lovely presence in the MNCC. Things were not going well for him, and then we heard nothing. But his wife, in a real gesture of kindness, left a message under his name in an old diary that I happened to revisit. We were able then to honor his time with us. He had a young family still, and I can only imagine what a loss they are enduring.
And earlier yet, alliedoc died. She was one of the inspirations for this club to begin with. We both had the same kind of cancer, and we compared notes for a while. She wrote a brave message on my Community Quilt, only a short time after she was diagnosed with a severe recurrence herself:
You and me, I am sure we will survive. We are fighters and your words to me in personal messages have lifted my spirits significantly. Might I do the same for you even more. Hope to meet you soon in person. I have a room ready! Keep your mind, your heart and your spirit intact and you will win.
We did meet, alliedoc and I, as I mentioned in my
obituary diary for her. [I became aware of her passing a few months after it actually happened.] She invited my husband and me to stay with her overnight on our way back home from a long car trip in 2011, right as I was finishing chemotherapy. We were the first Kossacks we each had met, which was very scary but very fun. What a great person she was. I imagine her kids were gobsmacked by her death; they'd just lost their dad to a heart attack a few years before. She touched many a life, at home and at work.
I am very grateful we had a chance to know each of these fine people, all beloved and deeply mourned. Let us make sure to take the time to appreciate those who are still with us, for however long that may be.
My memory being what it is, alas, it is entirely too possible that I have missed someone else important on this memorial honor roll. I would be only too grateful to be corrected if so.
And let me also take this opportunity to ask if anyone knows anything about a few MNCC members who have not been heard from for a long while.
Has anyone news about murasaki? Or about Commander Retired? What about MacDaffy? or Chantez les Bas? If you have information you are at liberty to share, I for one would appreciate knowing. For that matter, if there are others who have gone we should remember, please make sure to mention them in the comments too.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for being here. I'm glad to know you.