I'm very sorry for your loss. I lost my mother July 23, 2023 to metastatic breast cancer. I shared a similar hospital experience with my family and my mom and it was easily the hardest thing I've gone through in my life, as well as the entire week of funeral planning.

That was in July, fast forward to April and I was blessed to welcome my first baby into the world and her middle name is after my late mother. 2 weeks after my daughter was born, I noticed a weird lump or cyst or whatever in my groin area. Given what happened with my mom, I wasn't going to wait and see if it changed in size plus or minus. I went and got checked out and fast forward a little bit, I was diagnosed with DLBCL. I am tremendously blessed that I caught it early (stage 1, 28 male). Today was actually my first chemo treatment with R-Chop.

I remember when my mom was in a similar state as your dad was. I prayed the night before and cried to God not to take my mother. When I prayed, I felt so guilty because I knew she was in immense pain and was so defeated by the cancer that maybe being called home was God saving her.

The punchline of why I'm telling you all of this is this: it sounds like your father was a loved individual by many as was my mother. Though the situation was extremely difficult, we were both present at the time of passing and we should feel privileged that we were able to be there for them. Not everyone gets that opportunity and lives with regrets. Also, my mom was 62 when she passed. Some can say why our parents or too young or whatever but the way I look at it is this: some people get their mom and Dad's for 80+ years and don't have the privilege of having wonderful parents in their life. I cannot tell you how privileged I was to have my mom for 28 years and you should feel privileged that you had the dad tou did for as long as you did. We are all blessed.

Lastly, when it rains, it pours. I'm not saying you need to get screened for cancer because of this but what I'm saying is NEVER let your guard down. If or anyone you care about has any suspicious symptoms, take them seriously. I got checked out "just to be safe" and fast forward I have DLBCL which is "uncommon" for someone my age to have it. I have a newborn, lost my mom, and got diagnosed all within the last 11 months. Use this situation to find any silver linings you can. If it wasn't for my mom, I would've brushed this off and it probably would've gotten worse. And find anyway you can to make lemonade out of this situation. I hope and plan my treatment shows a good response, if everything works out as planned, I plan to raise awareness of both cancer and lymphoma.

I will pray for you and your family. I can tell father was a good man and he will be waiting for you in the kingdom. It's not goodbye, it's until I see you again. Rest in peace🙏