amen!

Well put "Great and horrible" at the same time.

I really appreciated his candor and perspective. Too many of us opt for clinging to life at all costs, even when the cost devalues the reason for living to the point of extinguishment. I applaud his courage AND common sense. I wish all the best for one who is in a bad situation.

Amen. I would make the same decision I think. I've seen chemo wreck what was left of life. It killed my father. God bless you Mike on your journey.

Mike, what courage and clear vision you own.

My younger brother, a journalist and father, has managed to survive two bouts with this cancer. The second time, he went through the treatment you described - and has been in full remission now for three years. It was an excruciating trial, but Stanford Medical Center, determination, and good luck made him one of the lucky survivors. When he went in for the bone marrow transplants, he was in isolation for a month because his immune system had been completely erased and even a sneeze might have been a death sentence. It was hell not only for him but also his wife and two young sons.

I'm luckier - the metastatic cancer that popped up in my neck two years ago was detected rapidly, removed and radiation therapy finished off everything. Were I facing the decision you and my brother have, it's impossible to say what I'd do.

Make the most of what time you have, and when it's time, have a smile on your face! Thanks for sharing your last journey with us.

Mike,

Horrible news to hear. For what it's worth, I've always immediately clicked on your articles because you are one of the few real sports journalists left, your football (Go Byrds!) articles were always a great pleasure to read, and your candor was appreciated.

Best of luck with your crossover. Not sure what your faith is, but I take a more agnostic approach than Hottubman. This "life" is but a stage of your existence, death is simply a transition to the next journey. Peace out brotha!

well put HotTubMan. AMEN!

This was an incredibly touching story, Mike. You sound like you've lived a wonderful life, and you have a wonderful collection of family and friends that have supported you. That is the ultimate gift we can hope for in life, through the good times, and the bad. I just lost my grandmother a month ago from debilitating lung cancer. She fought for nearly 3 years in great pain because she wanted to be around for her family. She was the most unselfish person I've ever known, as she was willing to sacrifice her senses and ability to walk and function correctly in order to be here, as much as I loved her and wanted her to stay with us longer, knowing what pain she was in gave me considerable grief and sadness. I understand your choice to live rest of your days here in comfort instead of agony, and I respect that decision greatly. It sounds like your family knows you love them, and they love you. Even when you're gone, you'll always be remembered by them forever, that's what important, and what comforts them in times of sadness.

Thank you for contributing stories to this site, and we will miss your opinions and reporting, sir. Take care and God bless.

@HotTubMan: The words of empathy are nice, but please don't push your religious agenda on a dying man. That's just distasteful. Let him find his own path--not yours.

Yes, I say it's projection/fear ... and there is much to learn from Mike who clearly gets that life is meant to be lived gratefully and joyfully!

I could not stop crying when reading this story. This man has so much strength and honor. I don't know how I would respond to this news. God bless you Mike.

HotTub

I have to agree with everyone else. EACH ONE OF US HAS OUR OWN WAY OF SEEKING SALVATION.

I really get annoyed with "preachy" Christians and your post is a "preachy" Christian post. Your way is no better or worse than anyone else's way.

ALL advice columnists would tell you that this type of comment SHOULD ONLY BE GIVEN when the other person asks for your opinion.

What an awful thing to say. Leave the man alone. Religion should be a personal issue especially at a time like this.

HotTub people like you are the precise reason why so many are pushed away from religion and become jaded by robotic dogma.

Now is not the time to cling to silly superstition. Let the man exit this world on his own terms and not those of mythological beings.

Sorry, i can't work out how to downvote the despicable vomit of @!$%# that HotTubMan has spewed upon your website. I personally hope he dies a horrid death.

You, on the other hand, have shown actual balls in the face of adversity. I wish you well. I wish you were a lot better than most.

@!$%#ing grow up HotTubMan... now is not the time for 2000 year old superstitions. If there is a God all he deserves is a big @!$%# for giving this man, like so many others, cancer.

Are you for real? You crazy christians don't pass up an opportunity to shove your loony crap down somebody's throat. The guy has a couple weeks left to live, and you're pawning your fairy tales on him? How utterly tasteless and crude.

I'm not sure why you are so bitter but if you really understood life you wouldn't be talking the way you are. Jesus Christ is the only true hope we have in this life. Eternity is an awfully long time to spend separated from Christ if we have not accepted Him into our life.

I appreciate your thoughts. I'll say it up here, though. I'm an atheist. This life is all I have and I really don't want to leave it. I love living. But as I keep saying, it's' not how long, but how well. That's for me. Everybody has to make their own decisions at these times.

I would no more tell you to embrace humanism than I'd tell anyone to do or believe anything. These, too, are personal decisions. I've spent 40 years thinking about these things. I've read the Bible twice - cover to cover - and find to to be gruesome, humorless, mean-spirited, paternalistic, and to a large degree fictional - like the Greek gods or the Great JuJu in the Sky or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Please, to all, don't proselytize. You are using a total stranger's tragedy to push your own religious agenda. It's undignified.

This is an incredibly inappropriate comment to make to a stranger at this time in his life.

HotTubMan, how do you "research your salvation"? There is no agreement on salvation even among Christians. It sounds like a big waste of time. I think Mike has the right outlook - live life as well as you can. The best way to do that is surround yourself with family and friends and live like there is no afterlife or "new home".

Thanks for the words of wisdom, Mike. Carpe diem!

What a horrible thing to say to someone after reading that. Shame on you homme

www.healthyalternatives.net meet others that were told simular things and are not only alive, but living their lives. It can't hurt to check it out.

He was an atheist, dude. He had no need for your crazy superstitions.

HotTubMan

Your heavily veiled threats are utterly inappropriate at this time and to this man, you're a despicable human being.

To HotTubMan & his "Ameners"

You are vampire scum.

I'm reading this because PZ Myers put it up on his blog. This man was consciously and definitely an atheist. You may think you're meaning well, but he doesn't need to be "blessed" by a god he had no belief in. He has died his way, at peace with a godless world he was happy to be part of.

People keep telling me that. I'm in awe. And tears.

Mike, you and I had a very interesting email friendship days of MJ. You wrote something that I didn't like about Michael and I challenged you on it.
We wrote back and forth for awhile and I remember that one of our favorite stories from my travels (I am a female rodeo photographer/over the hill now) was about me being on the highway and after checking into a "mom and pop" motel, the construction workers next door invited me to their barbeque and we ended up sharing beer and sitting out under the stars until midnight. I remember what joy you took from my story and how we talked about "if only everyone could get along" and enjoy one another in the present moment.
You are in my heart and soul and I'm sending up a message to "Mr. Tip", who was my 'always' traveling companion, so he will know to watch for you. (He got his wings in May of 2001.) He'll be the big airedale/scottish deerhound that will greet you by a big head bump in your netherlands. You will definitely know you're there after the greeting! :-)
Remember that all we're about is making memories. You're one of my best.
"from the road to you".........Patakaweezilgirl

Pray away. I appreciate the thought.

Dear Mike, I agree with Sandra. Thank you too for sharing your story with us. Godspeed.

Melody

life

is

looney

tunes

and

the

human

approach

to

death

is

the

looniest

of

them

all

We all do amazing things when we have no other choices. I don't think of myself as brave. I just know what life should be for me, and chemo (I had two rounds that were the worst experience of my life - worse than being turned down by what's-her-name when I asked her to the senior prom.) isn't it.

I don't want to die but I don't fear death. Not yet, anyway.

Great flick. I think I'll go down listening to Mozart, Bach, Jethro Tull and Jimmy Buffett.

Good for him. Sounds like a great man. I'm sorry for your loss.

Ah, I remember the days well. Doing our best to choke the runners on diesel fumes.

You're a true professional, Jim.

not appropriate for this discussion. Let's leave the pseudoscience for now.

That was Jorges way of offering help... Please be kind.

What medical school did he go to? Where are the double-blind studies. Don't fall for this kind of hooha.

good luck, FisherKing. All the best.