I know, I’m usually all over the latest in tech. But todays post will be a bit different.

Awhile back I came across an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about a Carnegie Mellon University professor named Randy Pausch,  who has incurable pancreatic cancer. What struck me about the story was that he was very cognizant of his ordeal. He articulated and shared his ordeal with his students.

Dr. Pausch’s ordeal began a year ago, when he began to feel bloated and his bowel movements changed, he said in an e-mail interview. When doctors did a CT scan to see if he had gallstones, they spotted a tumor.

“I got the news from my GP,” he wrote, “who said ‘There’s a mass on your pancreas, and it’s not fair.’

“As I later told him, it’s unfortunate, and it’s unlucky, but it’s not unfair.  This atttitude struck me throughout the post gazette article as I read daily about people who cheat death, who don’t cheat death and of others who go through the pains of trying to deal with someone who hasn’t much time left.

The article located here

He is concentrating now on creating videos for his children. With his oldest son, 5-year-old Dylan, Dr. Pausch went on a recent trip to Disney World and to swim with dolphins, thinking Dylan may be the only child who will have strong direct memories of him.

His wife and children, he said, “mean everything to me. They give a purpose to life and a depth of joy that no job [and I’ve had some of the most awesome jobs in the world] can begin to provide.

“I hope my wife is able to remarry down the line. And I hope they will remember me as a man who loved them, and did everything he could for them.”

I have been following this story intently, hoping for good news everytime I read his blog posts and as of this writing, things are ok. they are not good, nor bad, but they are stable for the moment. I want him to know that even someone that does not know him, is thinking of him. As I am sure others feel the same way, I will speak for you as well.  I pray for things all the time and sometimes I get angry when people only pray to their god, only when they need something; but here is a chance to thank our god and ask our god that this remarkable person be given a little bit longer. For that I will not be angry, merely appreciative and hopeful that their could be power and energy in collective prayer.