My Friend Kevin’s Battle

I have mentioned Kevin before. We’ve been friends for 15 years or so.

Kevin is the nicest person I know. Believe me, this takes nothing away from anyone else. He’s just that nice.

A few weeks ago Kevin called to tell me he was in the hospital. He’d recently undergone back surgery and didn’t sound too distressed. I popped by the next afternoon.

Kevin related the story of having some pain and nausea, seeing the doctor and being told to go to the hospital then – I’m mean then.

It was a blood clot in his pancreas. I’m smart enough to know blood clots can be disastrous. Precaution is good.

When I got back to work, I started researching blood clots in the pancreas. It’s not something I’d heard of before. Then I saw, it’s often a marker of pancreatic cancer.

But Kevin was in none of the ‘favored’ groups. He was a non-smoker, non-diabetic, caucasian with no family history. It made no difference.

The tests came back the next day. Kevin had pancreatic cancer and in a pretty advanced stage. It had begun to spread to nearby organs.

I know all that, because we’ve talked about it. But if you just spoke to Kevin, you’d have no idea. He’s up, positive, sunny. He’s his regular self.

Still, he knows what’s going on better than anyone else could. Pancreatic cancer is terrible. It’s fast and usually fatal.

He’s begun chemo, hopefully to extend his life. Who knows? Nothing’s certain. Dr. Mel Goldstein, who I work with at the TV station, pulled lots of strings to get Kevin hooked with the right people. If there’s a chance for help, he’s properly situated to get it.

It’s tough not to remember Dr. Mel was told he had incurable, fatal cancer ten years ago. He ‘should’ have been dead years ago. That’s why you can’t give up.

Kevin knows his family and friends want to know what’s going on. Some of them are sheepish about asking. That’s human nature. So, he’s started a blog.

Kevin has begun putting entries on CureKevin.com. The blog is still in its early stages, but he’ll catch on quickly and start foaming at the mouth, as I often do.

We’re throwing a party when he gets to the 1,000th entry.