He was a beautiful human being and we can be thankful for all the lives that he touched, while on this earth.
I know that the hobby of boardgaming and the community here at the Boardgamegeek meant the world to him, so I thought I should pass along an excerpt from his wife's letter to his friends and family.
Quote:
Dear Friends,
While email seems like the wrong way to let people know this, I did not want to call each of you. I could not possibly bear to tell this story over and over again right now. Mark passed away at Christopher House in Austin Texas yesterday at 3:44 pm while I held his hand.
My mother and the Hospice nurse were with him and I when he finally left this life and entered the next. Mark's last day was comfortable in sharp contrast to the last week of his life. The whole team that was involved with his care over the last few days were wonderful. They treated him with kindness, respect, and did everything they could to make him comfortable. They never waited for his pain to increase, they just kept on top of it the whole time.
Mark was so sedated by pain medication the last 2 days of his life, I really did not feel that he knew I was there, but when he was taking his last few breaths, a tear trickled down his cheek. I can not tell you how that effected me. I really feel that Mark was sad to die, but I know that he was accepting of his death. He would have done anything to beat this cancer, but there was no way it could be beaten. He made the decision to not have any more treatment, and that decision was strongly supported by myself and his doctors.
Some of you that I have sent this email to may not have known that Mark was even ill. He went to NAMC October 15th 2007, stayed there for about 8 weeks after being dx with Pancreatic Cancer that had spread to many other places in his body, including his liver, left kidney spleen and colon. We knew that his prognosis was poor, but were hopeful that his other wise good health and youth would help him fight this battle a little longer.
Mark came home from that first hospital stay December 5th and was able to spend the holidays with us. I had to take him back to the ER last Wednesday because I could no longer control his pain at home. That hospital stay was very difficult. We signed his care over to Hospice on the Friday, he went to Christopher House Monday afternoon, and about 24 hours later died there.
My heart is breaking, but I am so relieved that Mark is no longer in pain. I have never had to endure something so difficult before, but all the support, help, love, phone calls, cards, meals, gifts, visits and good wishes from you all has been incredibly helpful.
Love,
Melanie
While email seems like the wrong way to let people know this, I did not want to call each of you. I could not possibly bear to tell this story over and over again right now. Mark passed away at Christopher House in Austin Texas yesterday at 3:44 pm while I held his hand.
My mother and the Hospice nurse were with him and I when he finally left this life and entered the next. Mark's last day was comfortable in sharp contrast to the last week of his life. The whole team that was involved with his care over the last few days were wonderful. They treated him with kindness, respect, and did everything they could to make him comfortable. They never waited for his pain to increase, they just kept on top of it the whole time.
Mark was so sedated by pain medication the last 2 days of his life, I really did not feel that he knew I was there, but when he was taking his last few breaths, a tear trickled down his cheek. I can not tell you how that effected me. I really feel that Mark was sad to die, but I know that he was accepting of his death. He would have done anything to beat this cancer, but there was no way it could be beaten. He made the decision to not have any more treatment, and that decision was strongly supported by myself and his doctors.
Some of you that I have sent this email to may not have known that Mark was even ill. He went to NAMC October 15th 2007, stayed there for about 8 weeks after being dx with Pancreatic Cancer that had spread to many other places in his body, including his liver, left kidney spleen and colon. We knew that his prognosis was poor, but were hopeful that his other wise good health and youth would help him fight this battle a little longer.
Mark came home from that first hospital stay December 5th and was able to spend the holidays with us. I had to take him back to the ER last Wednesday because I could no longer control his pain at home. That hospital stay was very difficult. We signed his care over to Hospice on the Friday, he went to Christopher House Monday afternoon, and about 24 hours later died there.
My heart is breaking, but I am so relieved that Mark is no longer in pain. I have never had to endure something so difficult before, but all the support, help, love, phone calls, cards, meals, gifts, visits and good wishes from you all has been incredibly helpful.
Love,
Melanie
Thank you to all the people that enriched his life,
.k
Edit: A big thanks to Aldie for adding the Memorial feature to the site. Please click on Mark's name above to honor his memory and sign the guestbook for his family.
Last edited on 2008-01-17 13:04:10 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Posted Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:17 pm
