This post, and I think several to follow, will be heavier and more emotional than many that I write.
Last week a dear friend, Mark Carver, passed away after a two year battle with stomach cancer. Suzanne and I were close to Mark and his wife. I’ve known Mark about ten years, and worked closely with him in various callings and service opportunites in our church congregation (LDS ward). I had the good fortune of being assigned as his home teacher for most of those years.
There were a number of ups and downs over his two year battle. I remember the day he called me in October 2015 with the news of his diagnosis, and its likely terminal prognosis. I shed a tear or two.
He decided to proceed with conventional treatment of chemo and radiation, and endured its side effects. Life was prolonged, but that treatment exhausted its benefit late last year. His insurance declined coverage for a very expensive medicine that held some promise for his case, so we were all very heartened when the drug company offered to proceed with no cost. Could this be the miracle we all hoped and prayed for so fervently?
Alas, it was not to be, and a few months ago Mark was resigned to his fate, and elected to maximize quality of life for his remaining time.
There is much more I want to relate to fill the many gaps from this abbreviated summary, but I will close this post with a link to Mark’s obituary:
I’m so sorry for the loss of your friend, Mark.
I grieved when Nabeel Qureshi died at age 34 from stomach cancer on September 16. He’d just been diagnosed August 2016 when his daughter was only a year old. He posted vlogs quite often, and I followed his treatments and outlook on life. I still don’t understand why God took him so young.