A Tribute...(the only way I know how right now)...

Several years ago, I met a really cute and nice guy named Edmund (Eddie). Ironically enough, it was in an AOL chatroom and a bunch of us were bitching about dating, so we all decided to meet up and have a weekly bitchfest and just hangout. The bitchfest lasted only on time, but Eddie and I hit it off instantly. We had gone on a few dates, but it never really had a chance to grow into something more other than a long distance friendship, since he had soon sold his house in New Jersey and moved out to Oklahoma City.

We had chatted online quite a bit and cyber-visited one another but, as most times it happens, we started talking less and less. He had met "the love of his life" and they both moved further west out to Los Angeles where Eddie went back to school to become a nurse.

A few years ago, Eddie contacted me out of the blue with a crushing blow. He had cancer. He would provide weekly (at least) updates on his status, treatment and anything that may or may not look good on the horizon. With the medical background and schooling he had gone through, it was easy for him to describe to the rest of us what was happening and what was to be expected. He talked about the difficulties he faced after bouts of chemo and the awkwardness he fealt when he first went out in public with his shaved head (that awkwardness quickly vanished when he suddenly realized that shaved was "in")

Not too long ago, he was convinced that he was going to beat this monster. The tumor growing under his arm had dwindled in size to that of a dime (down from a grapefruit). But then, almost as quickly, not only did the tumor grow back, but the cancer had spread. He had voiced his concerns and hatred about George Bush's battle against stem cell therapy (although he was already in the process of going through it). However, for reasons too technical to go into (low numbers/high numbers/no numbers) stem cell therapy became less and less an option.

A few months ago, Eddie passed an email telling us that he has accepted death and is in the process of settling up loose ends in California. His health quickly deteriorated and in the last email I received (which was at the beginning of May), he said that he was moving back East to be closer to his family and he would be going into a hospice in Delaware within a couple of weeks of that email.

That was the last email I received from Eddie.

Yesterday (Friday, June 10th), someone from the list of email recipients had sent out a request for any information concerning Eddie, since she too had not heard anything. Ironically enough, I had closed the email and had seen Eddie's screen name just exit my buddy list. I quickly responded with word that, although I didn't talk to him, I did see him online.

Today (Saturday) I received another email from one of the nurses in the hospital that Eddie had worked and stayed in while sick:

Eddie passed away May 16th. He did go home to his mother and was with family at the time of his death. I am sorry to relay this via e-mail.
Cindy Damboise
PHCMCNurse Manager
Telemetry / DOU

It is with tear-filled eyes and a pained heart that I write this latest blog.

Eddie, you were a good addition to my life and, although the contact through the years between us dwindled, you will never be forgotten.

Edmund Zeron
1965-2005