An old, dear friend of mine, a mentor, really, has been battling a rare stomach cancer since July 2005.  He’s been enduring all sorts of radical treatments and surgeries that have battered his body.

I have been following his trials through CarePages.com.  Mostly lurking, posting comments in his message board every once in a while.

After some really tough times these past few weeks, he decided to stop all treatments last week.

This morning, I read this update:

September 25, 2007 at 04:02 AM MDT
Greg was admitted into in-patient Hospice at around 4pm on Monday.

We do not anticipate that Greg will be with us much longer.

I got the update when I was getting the kids ready for school, and after what happened when Logan died, I wasn’t ready to have an emotional morning that I had to explain to them.

I told Doug about Greg, and we both kind of buried it for the kids.  I took them to school and then went grocery shopping, for almost 90 minutes, wandering around the store.   

When I got home, I found and find all these wonderful cyberhugs and loving, peaceful energy for Greg. from the West Side Moms. Thank you so much.

Greg was one of my teachers at UCCS in the engineering program.  On his door, he had his office hours posted, and he listed Old Chicagos Happy Hour on Thursdays as office hours. 

I caught a lot of prejudice at school – other people thinking that I wasn’t working hard or that I wasn’t smart enough to get an electrical engineering degree.  Mostly from spiteful women who envied that I was “one of the guys” or “old-fashioned” men who didn’t believe I had a place in that field.  I actually lost out on a job after graduation because of a woman who was petty and prejudiced.  She graduated a year before me, so she lied about my abilities to the people who interviewed me.  Although it was frustrating at the time, it turns out, as it often does, that it was the best thing for me because the job I did get is still the favorite job I ever had and set me up with the skills I love and use now to work at home.

I digress.

Greg never made me feel that way.  After graduation, we saw each other often, and I will always be grateful for his encouragement and support and belief in me.

I’m so frustrated and angry because a couple of years ago, I lost another old friend to non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and he was 36.  These were both men who were healthy and vibrant and so loved.  I just don’t get why life has to be so cruel sometimes.

Okay, I need to quit crying before I pick up the boys from school…

Please send prayers and energies and thoughts of peace for him in these final hours.