My story is about my eldest son Mark

 

This event took place from 06/23/2020 to 03/12/2022

 

The Discovery

Mark worked for a company dismantling and recycling commercial batteries. As this was a toxic environment in which to work a comprehensive health check was carried out by the company annually. In June 2020 after a company health check Mark was referred to his doctor and subsequently to a cancer specialist where he was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and In November 2020, he underwent a Whipple Procedure.

 

This is My Story

Mark had an extremely outgoing and adventurous spirit. He was also very young at heart and loved visiting theme parks and trying out all the thrill rides. During his five years at College, Mark joined the Army cadets and also entered the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award program where he gained his bronze and silver awards. He subsequently joined the army leaving home and going to live in New South Wales some three and half hours flying time and 3500 kilometres away, making visits extremely difficult and expensive. After leaving the army Mark joined the battery recycling company. We always worried about this job as commercial batteries are composed of numerous dangerous materials and chemicals and which we often wondered were in part responsible for him developing Pancreatic Cancer.

Three years ago, in what would prove to be a cruel twist of fate, Mark donated his prized guitar to be used in a WA Heart Foundation fund-raising auction.

In his final week’s Mark put together a bucket list including a trip to Queensland’s Gold Coast, where he planned to visit Sea World, Dream World and Movie World. Alas this wasn’t to eventuate as the disease rapidly progressed rendering him incapable of any kind of travel.
As a lasting tribute to Mark’s memory, a music video has now been produced. Written by my friend, his song, ‘Impressions of You,’ is now on YouTube and other streaming platforms and has been accepted by the Pancare Foundation of Australia as their Anthem.  Rest in Peace Mark, your memory lives on.

 

 

The Impact of Time

• From June 2020 to November is just a relatively short six months. Had his diagnosis been even six months earlier then Mark’s chances of survival may have been dramatically increased.
• Our outlook on time has been greatly influenced by the sudden impact of Mark’s passing. At this time COVID had spread across Australia and our state of Western Australia was ‘locked-out’ of the rest of Australia resulting in closed borders and no permissions to travel between states. At this time, we hadn’t seen our son for two years.
• As mentioned, there was no early detection.
• In hindsight and with the threat of COVID looming my wife and I, 83 and 81 respectively, would have love ‘the gift of time’ for at least the opportunity of seeing and being with our son before he passed.

 

My Story is about My Dad, Maurizio

 

This event took place from 03/15/2022 to 06/19/2022

 

The Discovery

My father was 55 years old when he was diagnosed Diabets type 2 in September 2022. A diabetologist’s friend of mine was his doctor and prescribed an anti-diabetic oral drug and diet so he started to lose weight.

But he lost weight so fast and we were proud of him. At the second visit in March, something strange was in his blood value. I immediately understood there was something really bad and I asked to my friend to quickly visit him. Then after CA119 dosing all was clear to me. He was dying of a pancreatic cancer. We had the diagnosis confirmation and stadiation in April after an Echo and a biopsi.

I had prepared my dad for the diagnosis but we thought at least to have chance to start a chemio. In May I was pregnant of 7 month and my Dad had his death sentence: he could not start the chemio. Bilirubin was too high because of the liver metastasis. In One month he would be dead and it was. From 19 May to 19 of June, we had one month full of party, dinner, cinema and lunch with family and friend until a couple of days before his last breath he started to worsen.

My Dad was really brave and stayed with us until the end, asking for forgiveness for his mistake, telling us how much he loves us and he was not afraid to die. In a few month he was prepared to leave the body and the family and go to his direction.

 

This is My Story

My father was 55 years old when he was diagnosed Diabets type 2 in September 2022. A diabetologist’s friend of mine was his doctor and prescribed an anti-diabetic oral drug and diet so he started to lose weight.

But he lost weight so fast and we were proud of him. At the second visit in March, something strange was in his blood value. I immediately understood there was something really bad and I asked to my friend to quickly visit him. Then after CA119 dosing all was clear to me. He was dying of a pancreatic cancer. We had the diagnosis confirmation and stadiation in April after an Echo and a biopsi.

I had prepared my dad for the diagnosis but we thought at least to have chance to start a chemio. In May I was pregnant of 7 month and my Dad had his death sentence: he could not start the chemio. Bilirubin was too high because of the liver metastasis. In One month he would be dead and it was. From 19 May to 19 of June, we had one month full of party, dinner, cinema and lunch with family and friend until a couple of days before his last breath he started to worsen.

My Dad was really brave and stayed with us until the end, asking for forgiveness for his mistake, telling us how much he loves us and he was not afraid to die. In a few month he was prepared to leave the body and the family and go to his direction.

 

The Impact of Time

Time is quite strange.

Two months after his death he would be granfather.
But that time was not enough on time.

For only two months in 55 years he lost the joy to see his daughter being a mother.

It’s funny.. he would be died one year Earlier or after.. but he dies 2 months before my baby birth

What I have learned about time is that we cannot spend time in arguing or bad feelings. We don’t have enough time.

We spent the last month staying together hoping he will be here one more days.

 

My Story is about Dionysios P. Simopoulos (my dad)

 

This event took place from 10/25/2022 to 08/07/2022

 

The Discovery

My dad began to lose considerable weight and then was diagnosed with diabetes. This led to further blood exams and borderline resectable pancreatic cancer was diagnosed.

 

This is My Story

My dad was a prominent scientist, hailed by many as the the most popular and most respected popularizer of astronomy in Greece. But beyond this, my dad was a gregarious, generous and wonderful soul. His laughter and presence would fill a room. He had the inherent ability to make everyone he met feel special. He would bring out the best in others because ultimately that’s what he saw.

When my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 4 years ago on October 25th, 2018, he was told that he would have about 3 to 6 months to live. I still remember the day he told us the news: “The news isn’t good. I have pancreatic cancer and I don’t have much longer to live. But it’s ok, there is good news too. I at least have 6 months of life.” And just like with everything else life had to serve him to that point, so too with this he viewed it as a glass that was not just half-full but overflowing and he decided he was going to make every one of those “6 months” he had left, count. And we as his family had no choice but to follow suit!

So that’s what we did: We lived life … to the fullest. We made every moment count. Even the most mundane moments became major events: like ordering take-out or watching his favorite cooking show. Those were “big” moments because we were doing them together. My brothers and I would share our boring work stories with him almost daily and he would listen to them like he was listening to earth shattering news.

During the past four years – yes, those 6 months turned into close to 4 wonderful years – my dad enjoyed friends, family and loved ones, wrote a few books, ate his favorite seafood, took a huge liking to sushi and watched cooking shows on TV. He would put on music and sing while he would write his books — some of them scientific in nature, others going back in time through his life — but regardless the topic, he would sing. He would note the color of green on the trees and point it out to us. He would walk out to his jasmine bush and would shout to us to come to smell the flowers when they were in bloom. He would make it very apparent when he was biting into a sweet piece of watermelon, telling us it’s the best watermelon he had ever tasted. But most importantly my dad would laugh. He would laugh that infectious laughter that made everyone around him laugh too.

My dad filled us with love. He left us full. And although his absence is huge the love he left us with lives on and because of that love we are fine. Because we made those little moments in time count.

I used to say that my dad carried me literally and metaphorically all my life. And he continues to carry us all with the love and the special memories he left us with. I read somewhere that time does not heal, love does. And I agree. Love not only heals, love lives on.

 

The Impact of Time

Every minute counted. Every moment counted. We made sure of it.

 

My Story is about my mother, Joy Greisman Bonn

 

This event took place from 12/02/2020 to 05/06/2021

 

The Discovery

It was discovered because my mom went to the doctor for a check-up. She had some stomach issues but not life-threatening ones and felt the pain differed from other times. We thought for sure her diagnosis would be Crohn’s or Colitis or Ulcer because she never expressed just how painful it was or that it was a different type of pain that came along with a lack of appetite. This made her doctors immediately do bloodwork and scans due to her ailments.

 

This is My Story

My mother retired at 72 as an interior decorator and designer. She and my father decided to retire in October of 2021 and move full-time to south Florida. As soon as they got to Florida my mom started complaining that she wasn’t feeling well. She was getting sick from everything she was eating and spent many sleepless nights feeling awful from dinner. My mom always had stomach issues but they were not unusual to what those of Eastern European descent seem to have in common. My mom was the hardest-working person I have ever known. She never complained and even if she was feeling horrible, she was always moving along. After a few weeks of not feeling well and she felt the pains she was having were unlike her stomach pains of the past, she went to the doctor. He immediately did blood work and sent her for tests. I will never forget where I was and what I was doing and what my mom was wearing when the Facetime call came in on December 2nd. My mom and dad called to tell me of the diagnosis. I immediately said, “oh no that’s what Alex Trebeck had”. They instantly downplayed it and explained what would be the next step. My mom was very calm and kept saying they gave her the wrong test results because she was the healthiest sick person. My parents returned from Florida and my mom was treated at SK Memorial Hospital. She underwent aggressive treatment. The treatment didn’t go well and she had four strokes. This all took place in a matter of five months. Any chance I could be with her or my brother, Craig, or sister-in-law, Nicole, and my mom’s two sisters, we were with her. My dad never left her side except to grab some ice cream he hoped would make her smile and possibly try to eat. My mom decided after the round of chemo that she wanted to go the palliative care route. This was a very hard one to digest for all of us but we wanted her to do what would make her most comfortable. As things rapidly changed and the disease became more prominent, my mother would talk to each of us. She gave each of her five grandchildren, Jacob, Jordan, Peri, Harley, and Dani, a message of how much they meant to her. They were her life. No one brought her happiness like the five of them. My mom’s last message to me as she held my face from the hospital bed at home surrounded by HOSPICE workers is one I will never forget….I love you more than anything. Those were her last words to me just a few days before she passed. On May 6, 2021, my mom passed. There was no one like her. While she was sick, she kept saying she had a wonderful life and how lucky she was with her family and friends. She was there for everyone always and has very big shoes to fill. I just hope she knows, WE WERE THE LUCKY ONES.

 

The Impact of Time

My outlook on time changed and the value of time because it is so hard to detect. It has not been like other cancers where early detection is widespread and available. The value of time became even more meaningful because my mother’s diagnosis showed that it was metastatic. She had stage 4 and time was running out because of this fast-growing, moving disease. There is never enough time with those you love especially when you get his with a diagnosis out of the left field. You expect the loved one to be a part of all that is ahead but Pancreatic cancer doesn’t give its people it chooses a fighting chance if you had the diagnosis my mother had. Although my mother had five months with us after diagnosis, each and every moment was important. The last few months, weeks, and days, were filled with loads of emotions and more crying and fear than ever before but the time was precious and we got to share how much we loved her and she shared how she loved us. I will never forget the precise moment of my mother’s passing as I held her left hand and only wanted more time.