This is a PSA - quit smoking!
He was a life-long smoker, and lung cancer ended up killing him. Maybe he thought it was a reasonable deal - a (possibly) longer life traded for 60 years of smoking.
Anyway, we knew it was close to the end when he no longer had the energy to go outside and smoke.
I wish I could say that I knew him well, but he was the most taciturn guy I’ve ever met. I the ten years I knew him, he probably only said 1,000 words. Still, he was a good husband and father, and pretty easygoing.
He never embraced technology - I’m not sure he ever looked at a website. I’m posting this here because I’d like some small memorial to him to exist in cyberspace.
Technology probably saved my life because I saw pictures of patients with oral cancer and it scared the crap out of me. I quit 13 month’s ago and feel so much better. The chances of me contracting lung cancer is still there though because I smoked for 40 years.
My grandmother had three sisters. She and one sister were smokers, and both of them died of smoking-related illnesses 30 years ago. The other two sisters never smoked; they’re in their 90s now and seem prepared to live forever.
It’s sad when it takes a good person away. My condolences, beowulff.
I’m so sorry. That’s so rough to watch. My dad and my sister died at 58 and 57 respectively, of lung cancer due to smoking. It’s a slow, painful, suicide.