I wonder if he went home that night and hugged his children with more affection.
I wonder if he warned them of the dangers of smoking telling them of this young man lying in his hospital dying.
I wonder if after he had passed on this devastating news he thought about this young man coughing, spluttering, relying on oxygen to breathe and pain killers to get through each day.
A young man only 35 years of age whose dreams were shattered in a moment. There will be no more future planning. All dreams of his future gone.
His girlfriend sits awkwardly on the young man's hospital bed. The dreams of their future replaced with the fear ahead. Weeks maybe months of pain before the end.
She holds his hand and speaks kind words but her head and her heart scream in horror.
His girlfriend's mother cries for his pain and for her daughter's grief.
After he is gone how will her daughter cope?
The girlfriend's mother remembers her father dying of lung cancer over twenty years ago.
Recently she lost her mother. She relives the grief of her father while still grieving for her mother.
The young man recently spoke with his mother, brother and sisters. He has had little contact with them for almost half his life but now they are arriving next week from interstate to say hello and their final farewell.
This is not how he had pictured their reunion in his mind.
So much heartache and grief for all. His family, his friends and himself.
The reality has yet to sink in. He was jovial last week but now his hospital food holds no temptation.
The cancer continues to steal his life.
I am the girlfriend's mother.
