Please send prayers to Barb and to her family

Back in July '06, Jody contacted me about a friend of hers whose husband Gary was dealing with cancer. After a valiant fight (yes, he truly fought to the end) he died this a.m. in her arms. They had tried so many treatments, from non-traditional to even chemoembolization that Barry goes through. He seemed to always be in pain. And most recently I wrote her just to say that what he was going through was not living at all. She knew this was the case. She is a mother to triplet teenagers, so has definitely been through hell and back.

Here's a part of her first email she ever sent me in July '06: I know she won't mind:
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Hi Jane,Thank you so much for writing and the information. I am having a very hard time with all of this and am frustrated with the slow process. I know, now that the Drs. say the cancer in my husband, Gary is slow growing and at this stage it is inoperable and incurable which means they plan to just make him comfortable. I am so angry at the medical world right now as we arrived on time to his appointment yesterday with the oncologist fully prepared for him to set up a date to begin the Chemoemboliztion and he made us wait an hour and a half to tell us that they won't be doing that for awhile. He will give him a hormone shot once a month which has supposedly had some slight results in shrinking tumors. Then if that hasn't worked after possibly six months to a year, then they will do the more invasive chemoembolization. I just started to cry and feel so frustrated that they aren't trying to remove the tumors and aren't being more aggressive. I am telling people that I feel like Shirley McClaine and Debra Winger in Terms of Endearment with Mom screaming at the hospital staff that her daughter needs pain meds now............and no one is listening. It is so frustrating to me that they have basically no interest in trying things to help him, just ways to make him comfortable????????? Oh sure, there are new drugs coming out everyday and they are hopeful a new one will come out within the next year, but what about all of this cancer that is in him now??????? This doctor who is Indian and did not speak very good English, tried to explain that the cells that Gary has have not had success in being treated by Chemo and they will use that only when Gary shows signs of liver failure. He is on a vitamin supplement program that is aimed at stopping tumor growth and has changed his diet to all organic and mostly veggies and fruits. No sugar or white flour whatsoever. He is meeting with a nutritionist/MD next week.The actual tumor in the pancreas is only 1.5cm x 1.3 but it is an aggressive little bugger and has spread numerously into his liver and surrounding lymph nodes. They show no concern over this and won't operate to remove the tumor because it has mestastized.It looks like we will eventually begin the embolization and your information was very helpful. We too have 15 year olds so I understand how difficult it is to be away from them so much despite them being so independent! It is encouraging to hear your spirit and fight against your different cancers and I appreciate your thoughts and words of wisdom during ours. Thank YOU for writing and I hope we are able to continue to share our war stories.Thank you!

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PS. Parts were edited out of privacy for her.

Now Gary can rest without the unbearable aches and pains. God bless you Barb and family.