Chris’s Story

Site created on February 24, 2019

Welcome to my CaringBridge website. I am using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. I appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.


The very first thing I would like to do is to send out my love and gratitude to all of my family and friends. As you all know, in January I was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer and began on the road to exploring treatments. I was happy to find a well regarded oncologist here in Cleveland, named Dr. Judah Friedman. Dr. Friedman determined a plan of chemotherapy. Chemo began and the first few hours were well-received and then what we are calling "the perfect storm" hit. A combination of Noro Viris, C-diff, diabetic ketoacidosis among a few other issues all hit me at once and slammed me into the hospital for almost two weeks. 


It was a very frightening time for friends and family because I was completely incapacitated, physically and mentally. It was frightening for me because I did not understand much of what was happening to me, including where I was or why I was there. Fortunately, I began to heal and have recovered to the point of being able to be home and continue to strengthen up for the next round of treatment. 


In the meantime, all of you out there have been so wonderful and attentive while respecting the intricacies of cancer care. You have no idea how much a kind word whether it be via email, text, snailmail, etc. can mean to someone who feels punky and often frustrated. 


Please feel free to join in my story by responding to or simply just reading the entries in this log. 


I love you all, 
Chris 

Newest Update

Journal entry by Chris Franc

Dear Family and Friends, 

As Chris' family, we wanted to offer an update to those of you who have joined us so lovingly and bravely in her journey with pancreatic cancer. As you may know already, Chris passed away on Wednesday, May 8th. Exactly as she had always wanted, she was at home, in her bedroom, and surrounded by her immediate family. At the end she was comfortable and seemed to be at peace. 

In the past few months we had many discussions with Chris about her wishes. One thing she made clear was that she did not want an overly formal service. Instead, she hoped people would be able to come together to share memories, stories, and celebrations of her life. Therefore, we plan to have a memorial for Chris on the afternoon of June 15th at University School's Hunting Valley Campus. We hope that all of you are able to join us on that day for a ceremony and followed by a small reception. We will be updating this site, as well a the funeral home's website (link below) with more specific information regarding timing and other logistics. 

As we begin to plan the memorial service, we wanted to reach out to all of you, her amazing family and friends. Chris hoped that many of you would want to share your stories at her memorial and we are hoping that if you feel inspired to speak, that you will do so. If you would like to share a memory, story, or other celebration during the service, please reach out to Chris' daughter, Caitlin, at caitlin.franc@gmail.com in the coming days to help us organize the ceremony. Please do not feel obligated to have any formal speech ready, we only are hoping to acquire an idea of who would like to contribute. 

Additionally, we are aware that many people do not feel that public speaking is the best format to share their thoughts. Therefore, if you would like to contribute a written memory or story about Chris that we can include in her reception, we also invite you to email that to Caitlin. 

Finally, words cannot express the gratitude that we feel for each and every one of you. We have enjoyed and appreciated every single card, text, homemade dish, phone call, baked good, flower, etc. At this moment we realize we have not responded to everyone, but we plan to as the days go on. 

Love to everyone, 
Mike, Caitlin, Dylan and Jackie 

https://www.bestfunerals.com/notices/Christine-Franc
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