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A tribute to a friend.

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Posted 12/12/2013 6:48 PM (GMT 0)
Great article by the Prostate Cancer Foundation on David Emerson.

www.pcf.org/site/c.leJRIROrEpH/b.8906811/k.73BA/David_Emersons_Prostate_Cancer_Story.htm?msource=grzdec13e4

David and I developed a great friendship during our battles with cancer. I teared up when David died last year but I have always admired him for his courage and perseverance and still do. I miss his great emails and posts to his very awesome blog that brought us together in friendship. We would share playlists for music and articles for hope. His wife is interviewed in this article but it's David's spirit that shines here. Enjoy the read.

"Life is not measured by it's length. It's measured by it's depth."

Beautifully said Mary!

I exchanged Emails with Mary last month or so. She and Brad are doing well. Brad graduates this year but is already an active member of David's foundation promoting Hope to all PCa patients. My hat's off to these great warriors against PCa.

Tony
Posted 12/12/2013 7:16 PM (GMT 0)
We need a "like" button.....
Posted 12/12/2013 8:13 PM (GMT 0)
Mike,
David was a walking, living, and breathing "like" button. Here are some more articles and his blog page:

PCF blog by Dan Zenka. David, myself, and Craig Pynn are pictured together in Washington DC as we lobbied congress for PCa funding together. There is a really tough picture of Brad hold David's hand in his last moments that still has my heart touched.
mynewyorkminute.org/?p=3798

Here is David's very popular blog.
prostatecancerat42.blogspot.com

Just a summary, David was a year younger than me but was already diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer by the time I met him. He was 42 at Dx and had a PSA over 270 and lesions throughout his body. He tracked his journey for all of us in this blog page. He was a member here as well later in his journey when I invited him here. He always fought hard and with love for all his PCa brothers. He spoke at many events mentioning many of us by name and he prayed for all of us. David died at the age of 49.

But his legacy lives on...

Tony
Posted 12/12/2013 8:15 PM (GMT 0)
it's a tough one, Tony. I followed David Emerson's blog so am familiar with his story, it's tragic.

We always look for positives but I can't say I agree that life isn't measured "also" by its length.

When I got cancer at 40 my first reaction was "crap, I'm only 40 and I need another 40+ years"

Not saying a short life is wasted, of course, just that longevity is something I think we all fret about if being honest with ourselves.
Posted 12/12/2013 11:07 PM (GMT 0)
Here's my "LIKE" BUTTON!
Posted 12/13/2013 12:13 AM (GMT 0)
I followed his story for many years....he was very inspirational....so tragic, so unfair!!
Posted 12/13/2013 1:42 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the link. Tony. Funny how it all comes back around. In May of this year my dad was in his final days and we admitted him to KC Hospice House, the same facility David was in and wouldn't you know it... the same room.

I pulled up David's blog to show my brothers and they read some of it, nodded and quietly walked to the chapel to say a prayer for the both of them.

My dad had lived alone since Mom died in2008 and we were constantly checking on him. He served in WW II and was the last surviving Marine in the KC area to have been on Iwo Jima. He was a decorated KCPD officer with Missouri House recognition, Officer of theYear awards, lifesaving awards, etc. I hadn't brought this up before, but now, I get a little misty thinking I won't see either of these guys again.

THe local TV station ran coverage on David's Ironman event this year and Brad did an admirable job of filling in for his Dad in the interview. I remember saying, "Atta boy, Brad."

Bob
Posted 12/13/2013 2:43 AM (GMT 0)
It was a sad day when you reported David's death last year, and still is, in memory a year later.

He was indeed, a great fighter, warrior, hero in his heroic battle fighting PC.

May he rest in peace, free at last from this scourge.

Thanks for posting this, Tony.

David
Posted 12/13/2013 2:44 AM (GMT 0)
Tony--

I appreciate your post in remembrance of a wonderful human being--David Emerson.

Posted 12/13/2013 3:00 AM (GMT 0)
Tim,
I promised Mary that I'd keep David's legacy going on the advocacy front. She is a very sweet day and is all for that. So it is these posts are for all of us in his honor. Every now and then I look at an old picture I posted on Facebook and see his post on it or the "like" on it. I swear my heart skips a beat.

The other day we saw Walters name come up and both Ruth and I sighed.

We'll keep marching ahead. And banging the advocacy drum. And hoping.

Tony
Posted 12/13/2013 3:16 AM (GMT 0)
David was a wonderful person. How hard he fought and in so many ways...won. His honest telling of what he was going through and the emotional impact it made on him was moving. David bared his soul on his blog, he prayed, he anguished and he spoke of his love for his wife and son. David was one of the bravest. I do miss him.

Susan (myman)
Posted 12/13/2013 4:01 AM (GMT 0)
Susan, Bob, you'll love this. You'll probably remember it too. David called in to the Dennis Miller Show and spoke to Miller. It was supposed to be political and a talk from David's heart took over. This is David and Dennis Miller a few years ago...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpKtM3L-4As

Tony
Posted 12/13/2013 6:29 AM (GMT 0)
Great post Tony. David was my first (of many) heroes in this battle. Seems so long ago that he passed. I remember reading his blog when i first relasped. He was a true warrior and an inspiration to all of us. May his spirit live on...
Posted 12/13/2013 7:25 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for sharing, Tony.

I wish I had had the opportunity to meet David. Following his blog and having him as a friend on facebook, I felt like I knew him personally.

I love his wife's statement that you quoted. It reminds me of a movie I saw, in which am ill young lady said "I'd rather have 30 minutes of wonderful, than a lifetime of nothing special."

Depth, indeed.
Posted 12/13/2013 7:58 PM (GMT 0)
Really these realities of life and death are so wrenching its amazing our species can overcome them. We do... my consolation in this veil of tears is a simple promise I heard and continue to respond to. A true promise and a belief in a true promise create each other in a way that we will never understand until met…….
Posted 12/14/2013 2:49 AM (GMT 0)
Ms WW, you'd have loved the guy. I met David at one of his disc golf tournaments. He was out playing but Mary directed me to where he'd be in a few minutes. I walked down to that hole and bingo..he got a hole-in-one. He approached me and said, "You probably won't see that again. You must be Bob."

"You must be David. Nice shot." We spoke for a few minutes about knowing each other from this site and then I walked a couple of holes with him and watched his group play. He really loved this sport. He exuded such a positive attitude that it was impossible not to be impressed with a guy with such an upbeat look at life with such a bleak future ahead. A couple of years ago he asked me to be involved with a calendar shoot for a local clinic that featured pc survivors. He was January, I was October.

To this day, there isn't a time when I hear any mention of PC that I don't think about him, or Tony, or the rest of the men who have been so instrumental in getting awareness in the public discussion.

Bob
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