<p>I should add that I didn’t post the above quote in order to comment in any way on LTS’s D’s b/f. Rather, it seemed to me that she was very emphatic about remaining anonymous!</p>
<p>LTS consistently said that the “Support for LTS” thread should be for all in need of support and inspiration, not just for LTS. I believe that many did in fact benefit from that thread. With the loss of LTS, those people may lose a source of support and inspiration. </p>
<p>With that in mind, I am wondering if a fitting memorial for LTS would be a thread for all who feel themselves in need of support and/or inspiration. I am envisioning a thread in which many would contribute from time to time, out of their own experience, mind and heart.</p>
<p>The new thread is:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/553162-support-inspiration-memory-lts.html#post1060866480[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/553162-support-inspiration-memory-lts.html#post1060866480</a></p>
<p>I have started the new thread with what LTS said was one of her favorite and most inspiring quotes:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>–Japanese proverb</p>
<p>Wow-
I’d totally forgotten about that stuff from 3 years ago. I remember the thread, now that it has been resurrected, but I didn’t recall the details, and didnt recall that it was LTS talking about her daughter.</p>
<p>and more (Japanese death poems)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>–Chowa (1715)</p>
<hr>
<p>
</p>
<p>–Chori (1778)</p>
<hr>
<p>
</p>
<p>–Chiyoni (1775)</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death: Yoel Hoffmann: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Death-Poems-Written-Monks/dp/0804831793]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Death-Poems-Written-Monks/dp/0804831793)</p>
<p>I for one was helped in a huge way by this thread when I received my own cancer diagnosis. While my prognosis was much better, cancer still strikes at the very core of your being. At times in the early days it seemed hard to breathe, hard to keep yourself from becoming immobile with fear.
Both the postings of LTS and members of CC were inspirational to me as I am sure they were to many others fighting their own battles.
ADad your thread is a wonderful idea.</p>
<p>And keymom, I immediately thought of you when he posted it. Take advantage of it…go there often and we will all be excited to be together in that welcoming place! All the best to you!!!</p>
<p>Posting at the beginning, keeping up with LTS’s struggles here, it is now appropriate that I post an ending note. For everyone who has had family or friend struggle with cancer, the struggle is difficult to cope with. But it can also be inspiring to observe the strength of the human spirit and we wonder if we could be so courageous in the face of such difficulties. But when it is time to say those final goodbyes we are still surprised by the sudden finality of it all.</p>
<p>Even though we all have been partners in LTS’s final journey and the ties that bound us to her reside in the digital ether, the feelings are just as strong in a way because the good fight has been fought with dignity, another soul has left this good earth and we know that the lives of her family and friends will be diminshed.</p>
<p>My sincere condolences to all who knew and loved LTS.</p>
<p>It’s a feeling I’ve never had before. I feel like I had a friend that died. But I didn’t even know her IRL. So how can I explain that to anyone?</p>
<p>I’m another one who has been traveling and not checking in here recently, so was shocked and saddened today to learn the news. LTS was a brave and generous soul, and will not be forgotten.</p>
<p>and another (life brought to a close by lung cancer)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Dr</a>. Feigin honored as ‘truly a giant’ at Houston funeral | Health & Medicine | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle](<a href=“http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/health/5950844.html]Dr”>http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/health/5950844.html)</p>
<p>[Dr</a>. Ralph Feigin, Physician-in-chief, Texas Children’s Hospital](<a href=“http://www.texaschildrens.org/AllAbout/FeiginBio.aspx]Dr”>http://www.texaschildrens.org/AllAbout/FeiginBio.aspx)</p>
<p>I saw that. Feigin was a giant around here… We just finished the new Feigin Center at TCH, and the under-construction TCH Maternity Center, part of Feigin’s Vision 2010 initiative, is the project I’m working on right now. (The Maternity Center will be home to LTS’s spandrel beams.)</p>
<p>How fitting that LTS’ beams will be in Feigin’s hospital! It sounds as if they were diagnosed at about the same time, died at the same time, and they were both never-smokers with lung cancer - I wonder whether it was the same kind? </p>
<p>Yet another loss to this relentless disease.</p>
<p>Just returning and slowly absorbing this sad news.</p>
<p>Rest in peace LTS.</p>
<p>Peace to your daughter and to your friends, cyber and otherwise.</p>
<p>Too bad we don’t have LTS around to give us her thoughts - from within the well of deadly illness and flavored with her distinctive piquancy - on this (I thought) interesting and stimulating piece in today’s NYT:</p>
<p>“In Cancer Therapy, There Is a Time to Treat and a Time to Let Go”</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/19/health/19brod.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=jane%20brody&st=cse&oref=slogin[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/19/health/19brod.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=jane%20brody&st=cse&oref=slogin</a></p>
<p>Boy, that’s a tough article to read. I can’t imagine being in that situation but, statistically, many of us will be. </p>
<p>Trying to imagine LTS’ reaction makes me smile and feel horribly sad at the same time.</p>
<p>Very interesting article! Looking back on LTS’s recent treatments, could it have been better for her if she had accepted hospice care, or was there a realistic hope for remission? No way for us to know, but worth pondering as we deal with similar situations for ourselves, family, loved ones.</p>
<p>I wonder what the final cause of death was? I’d seen mention of blood clots, there were concerns about chemo toxicity earlier, and of course the impaired lung function.</p>
<p>I didn’t read the article yet, but I imagine LTS dealt with her sickness the way she dealt with life, she’s a fighter so she choose to fight her illness all the way.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m with munchkin on this. </p>
<p>LTS’s relationship to her illness seemed to be a mix of roughly 1/5 fight, 1/5 hope, 1/5 compassion, 1/5 humor, and 1/5 stubbornness. </p>
<p>Of course, there’s no “right” way to die (just as there’s no “right” way to live). LTS appears to have done it in the way that best suited her, seemingly fulfilling the wish expressed in a prayer I quoted a while back (by the British psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott): “Oh, God, may I be alive when I die.”</p>
<p>I agree with munchkin and epistrophy. LTS was always aware that the odds were against her. But her life had been a long series of odds overcome. And she felt she was fighting not only for herself, or herself and her much loved D, but for others as well. And she did so with grace and humor. Advances are made when people don’t give up.</p>
<p>I have no doubt that the doctors and nursing staff who cared for LTS learned a great deal from her, and her fight will affect how they care for other patients in the future. They will not forget her insistence on humanity, her tenacity and overwhelming sense of purpose.</p>
<p>Epistrophy, I think that quote so perfectly sums it up. I am grateful every day that the chemo cleared LTS’s brain mets and she was able to <em>live</em> her entire life.</p>