Keep er lit my friend 

I'm sure this has been so difficult for you & Lorraine & your family.   John, all the little pieces of you & your life that you shared here led us to know "you" in a way that maybe others will not be so lucky to know.  I've been here about as long as you have been & I have enjoyed reading your comments & being lifted up by them personally as well. Thank you so much for that!! 

Honestly, I couldn't help but feel a little gutted reading your news here,  for both you & for Lorraine. Being a widow was not in my vocabulary as Doug & I had such sweet simple plans for retirement.  It's been said, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Our plans weren't to fancy, maybe travel to Hawaii & see Mauii, look for seashells & shiney stones, don't roll your eyes, lol, buy a motorhome of sorts & travel & check out different beaches and do lots of walking our dogs,  sitting in front of the massive night sky watching stars & thunder storms alike and, hopefully enjoying Grandchildren.  Well, those plans never came to fruition due to that nasty word, cancer.  We all die from something but that sure doesn't make things any easier. 

Doug did a lot of watching us in his last months. But, he also did something amazingly special too! Now,  I love a good map! About three months after he lost his battle, I went to look at a cerrain map & when I picked it up, it felt thicker then usual. Opening it, I found three envelopes. Now, at this point, you know Lorraine's not letting you out of her sight much, right ?  lol! I think that's pretty normal, the thing is I have NO clue when Doug did this, but finding these,envelopes with his chicken scratch on them, made me reach for a chair pretty quickly. Here my sweet man had written letters to each of our kids & one to me. 

From my heart... I can't tell you enough what it meant to read his words of love and encouragement that day and to be re-reading them over the last 16 years if I  needed to be encouraged by the same words, especially during certain struggles in my life without him. Those words are as close as I can get to a hug from him now.  John, I want to encourage you to do this too,  ESPECIALLY for Lorraine.  I know it's a hard task, but I think you can do it!  It may make her cry when she finds & reads YOUR words of love to her,  those tears that I've shed have been repeatedly healing each time I've read them or just held them. 

As you go thru the next months ahead of you, please know that I will continue to keep you and your family in my prayers and here, have a virtual hug from me too!  If you can keep us in the loop or have someone relay a message for you as to how things going, please do that.  You know that we'll be reading a long! Please Know you are appreciated here! 

It's been an honour to have learned from your experiences over the last 7+ years. No doubt, the impact you've had here has been and will continue to be felt for numerous years to come.

If there's anything at all that I, or we, can do for you and Lorraine, just ask!

😭😭😭💔💔💔

John, if there is anything you or Lorraine need, we are here for you. I can only imagine how devastating this news is for you both. 

May we all strive to live our lives the way you have, being a supportive and caring presence for all ostomates, past, present, and future. 

Let us know what we can do. Like Laurie said, if you want funny stories or heartfelt messages of how much you mean to all of us, we are here for you. 

you will forever be in my family's thoughts and prayers , your friend down south 

Tony and Sheila in Cobh .

Laurie

Now I am going to do my best through the rest of this adventure and would like to express my gratitude for this site, Eric and all you lovely folks who I regard as friends ❤️ You’re amazing 😉.

 I will still keep you all informed of how I get on.

Your friend and comrade

John 68

Edit: I actually still do my banking with First National Bank Alaska right there in Kodiak, with the mounted Kodiak bear in the lobby! 😀