Chuck Gold

Chuck is an amazing man....He has been fighting cancer for over 30 years when he first got Hodgkin's Disease at the age of 35.  We have been fortunate to have so many years together when his health has been good.  Over the last 8 years, he's been having more trouble with his body....plural effusions, replaced aortic valve, and more....but we came up against a brick wall in November 2014 when he was diagnosed with a soft tissue cancer "sarcoma" that could not be defined by any particular cancer cell.  That made it untreatable with chemotherapy and, because it was caused by the old radiation from years ago, radiation oncology was not going to be satisfactory.  Surgery was the only answer, but they would have had to taken part of his chest wall and diaphragm....In his mind, this would have immediately destroyed his quality of life....So, he chose his own path, as he always does, and chose to live it out with the best quality of life he could.  He was given 6 months, but as he likes to say "I'm 6 months past expiration and not smelling yet"....we have had a wonderful year together, but the cancer is taking its toll and his inner core has weakened.  He is now in hospice.  The story continues in the following journal entries.  Love to you all!