Here's to Elaine!!

I just happened to look at my work email and was shocked to see that Elaine Wuertz had passed away over the weekend. For those that don't know her, Elaine was a colleague as well as a friend from work. I met Elaine in the fall of 2007 when she joined Accelrys. She had previously worked for Pfizer and all my Pfizer customers told me how lucky we were to have Elaine working with us. When I was diagnosed a 2nd time with Cancer, Elaine stopped by my office to let me know that she was also a cancer survivor and was very honest and kind to me. I was very surprised when Elaine walked into my oncologist office in late Dec. of that same year. I was waiting to be seen by my doctor and she sat down next to me and confided in me that her cancer had returned. She was very optimistic about her recovery and I know she continued to work as much as she could through her treatments. I was thrilled when she told me that she was in remission. When I returned to work in Jan, she told me that her cancer was out of remission and she was headed for some more extreme treatments. We talked and emailed each other at work and were planning to have lunch. Every time we would set a date, she would get sick and have to be hospitalized.

Right after I had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer, she asked me to come visit her in the hospital. At that time, she was fighting off a gram negative infection, so you had to "gown up" to go into her room. I spent most of that Saturday afternoon with her. We talked about life, about husbands, about children and the effect this disease has on your loved ones. I asked her if she got depressed. She said no, she doesn't get depressed because she is optimistic that everything will work out just fine. I remember thinking wow...she has a lot of strength!! We would talk for awhile and then she would doze off. There were lots of doctors coming in and out doing stuff that is so undignified (I won't go into details). She laughed and said you are the one person I know who understands the indignity of illness and If you are not embarrassed then I am not embarrassed. I also laughed and said that it takes a lot to embarrass me as well. When I knew she was getting really tired, I left her. We promised to see each other after I was through my surgery and well enough to visitors. That is the last time I spoke with her.

I am so sad that we have lost such a special woman. God Bless her and take care of her.