He had no regrets

Tom just didn't bounce back after his last chemo like we expected. We really believed that he had licked the cancer or at least kicked it pretty hard. He started out October feeling crappy, and it just got worse. We found out in late October that there was still cancer remaining and that he had developed pneumonia. We will never know but it seems like the pneumonia must have been caused by cancer, because nothing we did made any difference. Tom was in the hospital for most of November, he just got sicker and sicker. He was able to have short visits with many of the people that were the most special to him but missed quite a few as well. About twenty five of us gathered around him in the early morning. He received a blessing from Mary & Steve Young's priest, and then we drank beer, screwdrivers and juice, toasted him and told stories. Tom passed peacefully at 6:30 Sunday morning, November 22nd.

He was 56 years old and said he had no regrets about his life. He felt nothing important was left undone. Even if he was unable to see his sons become men, they are old enough for him to see the men they will become and he was very proud of them. Tom died with his ugly old blue tea mug in one hand and a cup of beer in the other. I had to pry the beer from his hand. Tom to the end

There was Mass for Tom at the chapel at Mary's Woods in Lake Oswego, Tuesday, November 24th