In memoriam, Brandyn Beck, age 10

Brandyn Beck, a Indiana 10 year old, died at home in March of epithelioid sarcoma. If I read his site correctly, he was diagnosed with metastatic ES (a primary tumor on or near the thyroid, mets to the lungs), around June of 2007 and was treated with surgery, proton radiation and chemo. He was good-natured boy, fond of cycling, skating and almost anything having to do with wheels, most especially (I infer from his MySpace page) if those wheels were Harley-Davidson.

Brandyn's blog, which includes a newspaper article about his illness as well as his obituary, is available via MySpace. 

**

This begs a question: Why do I do this to myself? To you? 

Although obituaries, particularly of the very young, are tough reading, one of the many unfocused goals of this site is that it should serve as a repository of memories -- my own, of course, but also those of others I run I across who have endured this terrible illness. 

For me, then, printing an obituary is a gesture of solidarity and respect to the dead and their loved ones. A good obit can also serve as inspiration through illness (as in this account of Nicole Morgan's emphatic bravery and loving family). They also show the terrible scope and diversity of this disease, not that we need reminding of that. 

THE SICK GUY MAKES A SERIOUS REQUEST: All that said, I'd much rather write about you or your loved one while you are alive. 

If anyone is game to tell me their story to be presented here for an audience of hundreds, please let me know. I'd love to profile you and squeeze a little more mileage out of my journalism degree. I'm also interested in any and all ES links you come across, so please pass them along via comments or the e-mail "Contact Me" at right.