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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A Life Worth Living: Kevin Farley

This past Saturday we attended a memorial service for a friend and colleague of my husband. My eldest daughter also worked with Kevin. Kevin Farley passed away early last week after a five-year battle with melanoma (skin cancer).  He was only 46 years old. 

It was a very moving service with a room full of people who loved Kevin and who had fond memories of him.  Some had known him for well over twenty years, other for just a few.  But no matter how long they knew him everyone found him endearing and inspirational.  There was the little boy who recollected the time Kevin smeared peanut butter on his cheek because Rally, his black lab, relished it and licked it off his face; and then his life long friends remembered him and the way he laughed and how he loved playing pratical jokes. 

It was over five years ago when Kevin learned he had melanoma.  It was discovered on the top of his head where his hair parted.  Such a small area to have such an invasive cancer.  By the time it was diagnosed it was at a critical stage.  If melanoma is detected early enough there is a high survival rate.  But once it is past a certain stage it invades other parts of the body and is more difficult to treat successfully.  And unfortunately that is what happened to Kevin.  His was a life worth living and he was an inspiration to many.  Including my husband who battled prostate cancer this year. 

This month I will be writing about how cancer has affected our lives.  Although Kevin has passed on, we are adopting his black labrador retriever, Rally.  I will be alternating between this blog (Parentgrapevine) and our Moms Who Click blog and include photos as we integrate Rally into our lives.  Please follow along on this month long journey as we adopt and adapt Rally into our home.

I'd like to end this blog with a quote from Kevin.  While my husband was fighting his cancer Kevin wrote this in a note to him: 

"The many gifts in life illuminate when battling cancer."

And for us, one of those gifts will be Rally, Kevin's dog.  We are here to give him a new home and love him as Kevin would.

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