It is with a very heavy heart that I must inform the board that our good friend and my fellow warrior in the war against prostate cancer , Billy T., has died. His wife just informed me of this and asked me to tell you all. We have been sharing our battle against this monster for quite some time, I will miss him very much. I am going to go cry for a while now.
Please share my condolences with his family. I often argued with Billy T, but he was always sincere and honorable.
My sincere condolences with the bereaved family. I recall how he once shared his near escape when his vehicle got stuck and he could not make it to the designated journey otherwise....but death is too cruel. Pl don't let his demise weaken you in your fight against this disease.
He'll be missed. - - - - - - - - - "The night has grown brighter. In losing their war, some stars die victoriously." --Ceallach's Dirge "Life levels all men: death reveals the eminent." --George Bernard Shaw "It has cost them but a moment to cut off that head; but a hundred years will not be sufficient to produce another like it." --Count Joseph-Louis de Lagrange "Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation. [...] Nothing disappears without a trace." --Wernher von Braun "And now he has preceded me briefly in bidding farewell to this strange world. This signifies nothing. For us believing physicists the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, even if a stubborn one." --A. E., 1955 "I think there is a positive side to this picture of space and time being laid out there as 4 dimensions, because it tells you that all times are there once and it can affect the way one thinks about people who have died. I mean, I remember thinking in this kind of way when my mother died. In some sense she was still there because her existence is still out there in space/time although in our time she is not alive. A colleague of mine had a son who died in tragic circumstances and I presented this idea to him and it helped his understanding also. This was before I heard that Einstein had a colleague died and he wrote to the man's wife that Bessa was still out there, and that somehow this was reassuring. I certainly think this way often, that space/time is laid out and that things in the past and things in the future are out there still." --Roger Penrose, BBC documentary about time "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome." --Isaac Asimov
Sad news. He came across to me as a good guy and he contributed a lot to Sciforums. I have a tendency to take lots of things for granted, I think, until they suddenly are no longer there.
I add my condolences to his wife and family. A warning call though to all men once they reach middle age to undergo regular yearly PSA tests. And a hope that in the near future, science will finally be able to defeat this killer, in all its various forms.
I am very sorry to hear about Billy T. I liked him. His heart was in the right place. We did not always see eye to eye, but I like to think that our discussions were always carried on with mutual respect even when we disagreed. My condolences to his wife and any other family.
This flat out sucks. He had such kind hearted and thoughtful replies and I really liked him. Cancer sucks, so tired of it! Miss you Billy! My thoughts and sympathy are with his family. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
He was one of the few people on SciForums (aside from some of my fellow Moderators) whom I counted as true friends. He must have been around 80, since he told me about participating in the lunch counter sit-ins in Baltimore in the early 1950s. I was not quite a teenager at that time. He was an aviculturist. My second wife and I knew a lot about raising psittacines (parrots and related species) so I was able to give him some good advice for his cockatiel. (Only trim the flight feathers on one wing. He won't be able to fly away, but if he falls, he'll flutter safely to the floor in a spiral.) He married a Brazilian lady and relocated to her country. He was one of the few people I've met who spoke Portuguese, but apparently he never quite got to the point of "speaking like a native." He will be missed. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
How old was he? Prostate cancer is one type of cancer which I believe is seldom the cause of death. I suffer from it & have good reason to believe that I will die of something else when in my 90's & have some hope of lasting to 100.
I learned much from Billy...and he was one of the few independent thinkers on the forum. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
A recent note in the Washington Post quoted a doctor who specializes in prostate cancer, saying that most men diagnosed with it will live another ten years, without any medical treatment. My doctor's father-in-law was diagnosed when he was 70, and he refused to undergo surgery. He lived another ten years, and the cause of death was NOT the prostate cancer!
While this is true A BIG NOTE OF CAUTION. The second highest mortality from cancer in men is prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is common and most prostate cancer is not that bad, BUT there are very aggresive prostate cancers that will kill you. So do not take prostate cancer lightly. It can kill the fuck out of you. <<Edited by the Linguistics Moderator. "Prostrate" (the adjective describing the position of lying flat on the ground or floor, or the verb meaning to assume such a position) and "prostate" (the male gland, with no "R") are two different words with two different meanings and two different spellings.>>
Thank you Origin. Mine is aggressive, as was Billy's. I have had surgery, 40 hits of radiation and 3 years of chemo...so far. Our friend Billy has died from his. My doctor also specializes in prostate cancer, and he is worried.
