Thank you for this.

I remember reading an article by this man - it was probably an excerpt from his book, because I remember both the story of how he found out he had cancer, and also the message he left for his daughter.

About six years ago I wound up in a spot where I also woke up one day and found that without knowing how, I had lost about 20 pounds. My diagnosis was different than his - Type II Diabetes - but I remembered his article and it weighed on my mind.

I wound up descending into a panic over the diagnosis as my mental health deteriorated and at my lowest point I was terrified that something more sinister had caused the diabetes. I spent months trying to figure out if I had pancreatic cancer or something else that could have prompted the diabetes (I am the only person in my family who has it, that I am aware of. I still don't know why, and probably never will).

On my especially bad days I paced around my room wondering what would happen if I found out that I did, indeed, have a deeper condition, and that I would be dying soon.

The thing that helped calm me down was remembering him and how he faced his own death. And I decided that if I was going to die I'd face it lucidly and bravely like he did.

The sinister disease never materialized and, aside from the Diabetes, I'm pretty sure I'm healthy. But his work got me through the worst of my terror back then and I was always grateful to him. But by the time I was through the worst of it, I'd forgotten his name.

Now I have a name to put to the memory, and I'll look up the book, per your recommendation.

J