Family and Friends Friday - Halle Nanda

How the fuck do you start a post about someone you know who is facing certain death....in one months time. I guess you just jump into it and tell the story.

Aimee and I have known Halle and her husband Geeva for 5 or 6 years. Geeva was a fellow consultant at my company and had moved on to another company. We would get together at our neighbors house at least once a year for a wine tasting party. Seeing Hallie and Geeva was always greatly anticipated because they are both awesome people. Super friendly and great to be around. It's been a while since I've seen them. Hallie developed ovarian cancer last year. We were getting updates from our friend Kim and things were starting to look better. She fought the cancer through standard treatments and was given a clean bill of health.

If you know anything about cancer it's ruthless. Someone can correct me, but if you make it through 5 years of follow-up scans without the cancer recurring, you are considered cancer free. During one of Halle's check-ups they performed 9 scans of her body. Unfortunately they found cancer in all 9 scans. Oh yeah, it was also a couple weeks before Christmas. The week prior to Christmas they performed surgery to get as much as they could.

Since then things have not gotten better. The downward spiral keeps getting worse. Being told you have 6 months to live. Then six weeks later your husband has to tell you and your two young children that the time table has moved up and now you and your family are staring at 1 month. 4 weeks, 30 days. What the fuck does that do to you as the terminal patient, husband, child?!?

Yesterday all I thought about during my run was Halle. I pushed hard for the second half of that run. I wanted to feel a little bit of pain. Of course it's nothing compared to what Halle has experienced recently. The burn in my legs and lungs actually felt good. The feeling of being alive and healthy. Somehow it didn't seem fair. Once again I realized that I have led a blessed life without any major illnesses in my family. I'm starting to understand just a tiny bit of what Bolder has gone through in his life. Or there is also TriSaraTops. I read her list of friends lost to cancer and am dumbfounded.

Then while I am writing this blog I get another update from Kim. Halle's condition worsened yesterday and she was taken to hospice. I know what that means but I don't want to process it right now. It's too hard to comprehend it all. I can't sort everything out. It's happening too fast, and I'm not even in the middle of it.

As this comes to a close I will be ready to make my Declaration of Intent for the 2008 season.

Nothing else to say except........

Blogging Against Cancer

Because I Can

Game On

Gob Bless you Halle.