TheSamba.com :: View topic - A true car guy dying of cancer

Thu Mar 09, 2023 10:28 pm

Just watched a video on YouTube of a guy partway through a build who discovers he has Stage 4 cancer and about 9 months to live and finish his build. It just appeared a couple weeks ago, and I wanted to post it here because I'm sure it will strike a chord with many of you who have lost someone and perhaps want to see this guy win one in his final battle. I don't know how to introduce it other than to say watch it alone or with someone you're comfortable crying with, because many of you will see yourself in this man, and give credence to the saying "But for the grace of god, there go I".

https://youtu.be/vjzY0V4CV4E

Fri Mar 10, 2023 8:20 am

A week ago today, we lost a close friend to cancer.

From diagnosis to passing away...44 days!

Nine years ago same scenario..close friend..diagnosis to passing away...a little
less than 3 months.

For a lot of cancers, science has not made much progress.

Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:54 am

Sad but my younger brother died 6 years ago of this same cancer. A really bad way to go, sorry all the time my brother suffered like this.

Fri Mar 10, 2023 11:49 am

being a leader of our VW club, I've had many close VW friends pass away
many unexpected, just fine one day not fine 0-2weeks later.
many fighting cancer for months/years..

neither is good and both leave you emotionally scarred

also reinforces the need to get your life 'in order' as I've had to come in and assist the family on many occasions to identify and assess hoards.. it's not good, not good for anyone... as I look out my window at my own hoard... *sighs

Fri Mar 10, 2023 2:22 pm

My best man was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in mid December 2013. He died January 1, 2014. He apparently was misdiagnosed earlier in 2013. The doctor said the small spot on his lung was nothing.

Fri Mar 10, 2023 2:32 pm

I am a survivor of cancer. I was diagnosed in 1989, and back then the 'cure' was extreme. There were two components to my condition: 1, surgery and 2, chemo. The chemo was administered at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN. My routine was 1 week of infusion while checked in the hospital in Rochester, then three weeks at home (about 90 minutes drive). Every time I got home, I was able to spend about 4 hours there before I had to go get checked into the local hospital. It usually took the remainder of the 3 weeks to start being able to get up from a chair without assistance. When I was facing the final week at Mayo, I begged not to go. The 'cure' was literally killing me. Luckily, my dad helped me understand how precious my life was, and to stop then was likely going to kill me slowly if I didn't go. It was a day-to-day gamble. I was already wishing to be let go.

The long term outcome has been what many would call a success, as you can all see, I lived (unless this 'world' I am in is not the one I was in prior to the cancer. I can't actually tell.) I do know that in the middle of two of the surgeries, my heart stopped, both times for about 5 minutes. To doctors had chilled my body so that the damage was reduced. They were within a centimeter of my heart, scraping away a grapefruit sized tumor from many of my internal organs, mostly centered around the bronchial and arterial pathways to my right lung. So, I died. It is a strange place to go. No worrying, no sorrow. The doctors were there working on my body, and I was drifting away, looking at the work being performed. I was not scared, instead I was at peace.

One of the things I found out through these experiences is that dying is not as bad as you fear, but you can't know that until you go through it. Take heart, the afterlife is real, and it is peaceful. It wasn't like there was an all powerful being there deciding if I had been a good or bad person here on earth. There was no river to cross, no boatman holding out a hand to be paid to ride the ferryboat. Nope, just peace.

The other thing I found out is that the complications of being successfully treated can have life long complications. I am glad to be here. I am glad to have had the foresight to save my DNA samples that allowed my wife and me to eventually have children, and they are so very glad to have me here with them, as glad as I am to be here to see them grow up. However, my candle has burned at both ends, and soon enough I will have to face the reality of the damage the chemotherapy has done, long term, to my system.

My advice is to live every day as best you can. Don't expect tomorrow to be what you planned, don't wait to do things that are important to you. When you are facing the end, remember that you will soon be relieved of your pain and suffering.

I have studied a few 'modalities' of energy work. Some reference the 'laying on of hands' or 'healing touch'. Most of these modalities base their quantitative effect on Directed Intentions, connecting the source of your intentions through your own body to the universe, and allowing that energy to flow to another being. I have been asked by many individuals (or their families) who are near the end to come help ease their passing, and it has been a wonderful and awful time, each time. Facing death is hard. Being there with someone dying is hard. But, you can be assured of the good, knowing that they will soon be past their pain, suffering, grief, and all that has been weighing on them. When they are gone, they are now at peace. Those left behind, suffering from the loss of their loved one, especially due to cancer, those are the people who need help through compassion and understanding that death is hard, but it is much harder on the living survivors than on the dead. Always remember, your loved ones live on in you.

-bobby

Fri Mar 10, 2023 3:30 pm

It’s a hard watch for sure. Dang it. I couldn’t watch much. God bless him.

My 56 year old sister just had her first round of chemotherapy yesterday. Cancer can go straight to hell

Fri Mar 10, 2023 4:04 pm

My Father barely finished his 53 Chevy street rod pick up and died from Covid on December 26th. He still wasn’t driving it far and just shaking it down. Sucks

Fri Mar 10, 2023 4:49 pm

Wow Bobby!
That is quite a post!

Many who say stuff like that I write off as loonies or religious zealots, but you've shown yourself to be the "normal guy" next door! (Except for your Vanagon collecting fetish), 😂😂

Very interesting first hand experience.

Fri Mar 10, 2023 11:18 pm

bobbyblack wrote: I am a survivor of cancer.
….
My advice is to live every day as best you can. Don't expect tomorrow to be what you planned, don't wait to do things that are important to you. When you are facing the end, remember that you will soon be relieved of your pain and suffering.
….
-bobby

Thanks for the post. I’ve never experienced cancer directly, but your words above ring so true - we all know it’s true - but often, almost always, we forget that.

….time to get the westy back together

Sat Mar 11, 2023 3:28 am

Just came back from the funeral of a relative and good friend. Was on holiday in Hawaii and had a back ache, came home early to a cancer diagnosis. He lived 14 more days!

These cases are everywhere people, everywhere!

Sat Mar 11, 2023 6:37 am

Lost the Wife. 3 years ago.
Fuck cancer

Sat Mar 11, 2023 9:04 am

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

It is not lost on me that we chose to spend 10E8 $ on drugs to for bent peckers while we per medical case we spend jack-Shinola on cancer

Sat Mar 11, 2023 1:04 pm

Alaskaberrys wrote: bobbyblack wrote: I am a survivor of cancer.
….
My advice is to live every day as best you can. Don't expect tomorrow to be what you planned, don't wait to do things that are important to you. When you are facing the end, remember that you will soon be relieved of your pain and suffering.
….
-bobby

Thanks for the post. I’ve never experienced cancer directly, but your words above ring so true - we all know it’s true - but often, almost always, we forget that.

That indeed is the truth. A year ago a buddy of mine hurt his back at the beach, turned out to be Stage 3 multiple myeloma (a blood cancer, at 60 years old). He had a stem cell transplant, but the procedure (massive chemo and radiation pre-transplant) messed him up pretty bad, and he'll likely not make it to 65 barring a miracle. And physically he's too messed up to do much.

Oddly enough, at almost the same time - within a week or so - I was diagnosed with primary myelofibrosis (a similar, leukemia type cancer of the bone marrow). Showed up in routine blood work. I'm in an early stage of the disease, with relatively few symptoms, but it could accelerate at any time or morph into acute leukemia. It's pretty weird really; it could kill me next year, or not for 10 or 15 years, but there's no treatment to slow progression. In one respect, that's just 'normal' - any of us could die at any time, from a myriad of causes, with no way of knowing when or how. At 67, there's plenty of stuff out there just drawing straws to see which one can take me out, but it's a bit disquieting to know that however many I dodge, there's always this bugger just waiting to step in.

So yeah, you have today, tomorrow is never certain. Makes today pretty important, every today. Tough transition for us life long glass-half-empty cynics to make this late in the game, but I'm working on it. You all should too :wink:

Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:52 am

Got my death sentence in March 2022. Projected 12-18m life expectancy and I on that path.

Been lucky, have felt well. Traveled to the beaches of Monterey, hiked Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale, & Soldier's Pass in Sedona, attended a Duke basketball game at Cameron, and am currently catching some spring training games in FL.

Been hard on the wife and my only son so times have been both good and bad.

Nothing left unsaid and nothing left on the table.

Tue Mar 21, 2023 2:41 pm

I feel you , jsp.

Wed Mar 22, 2023 3:26 pm

IdahoDoug wrote: Just watched a video on YouTube of a guy partway through a build who discovers he has Stage 4 cancer and about 9 months to live and finish his build. It just appeared a couple weeks ago, and I wanted to post it here because I'm sure it will strike a chord with many of you who have lost someone and perhaps want to see this guy win one in his final battle. I don't know how to introduce it other than to say watch it alone or with someone you're comfortable crying with, because many of you will see yourself in this man, and give credence to the saying "But for the grace of god, there go I".

https://youtu.be/vjzY0V4CV4E

Sixteen posts and nobody asks where or who? Is he anywhere close to Virginia? How can I help?????

Wed Mar 22, 2023 3:38 pm

Not to discredit this fellow's plight but... take a walk around your own neighborhood, knock on a few doors and ask who is in the same position you could help. I guarantee you will find someone within a block or two... maybe just 2 or 3 houses down...

There are so-o-o many in the same boat these days. They are just not going public.

Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:42 pm

oprn wrote: Not to discredit this fellow's plight but... take a walk around your own neighborhood, knock on a few doors and ask who is in the same position you could help. I guarantee you will find someone within a block or two... maybe just 2 or 3 houses down...

There are so-o-o many in the same boat these days. They are just not going public.

Was trying to figure out how to say the same thing without sounding like an ass. Yup! Look around you , many many people need help, and not just to fund a hobby.

Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:42 am

jspbtown, your post still has me frozen. I wish I could reach you through my monitor and hug you and your dear family.

jspbtown wrote: Got my death sentence in March 2022. Projected 12-18m life expectancy and I on that path.

Been lucky, have felt well. Traveled to the beaches of Monterey, hiked Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale, & Soldier's Pass in Sedona, attended a Duke basketball game at Cameron, and am currently catching some spring training games in FL.

Been hard on the wife and my only son so times have been both good and bad.

Nothing left unsaid and nothing left on the table.