When I received my devastating diagnosis on January 9th I couldn’t help but think about Lee’s cousin Barbara (although only first cousins, Barbara and Lee were more like sisters, always together and always on the same wavelength), who received a very similar diagnosis around June 1, 2012. She, like me, was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. She, like me, was an extremely healthy individual with every expectation of a long life.

Unfortunately Barbara died seventeen (17) weeks after her diagnosis. I suppose that could also happen to me — it has only been about five (5) weeks since my diagnosis, but the expectations for me are, at this point, much more promising.

So what were the differences? How could things turn out so radically different, given similar people in otherwise good health and the same diagnosis? I will be exploring and comparing our situations over the course of the next few posts, trying to make some sense of her death and my life extension.