Our Story
The e-mail on the list read, “we lost our battle”, the reply read, “my heart goes out to you”. We met on the BRAINTMR e-mail list, a place for brain tumor caregivers and patients to share ideas about treatments, patient care and for support with other caregivers, patients and medical professionals.
We were two young widows who had both logged countless hours on the Internet and on the Braintmr list searching desperately for the cure that would heal our spouses. All of our lives had been cut short by brain tumors. Kimberley and Mike passed away at the ages of 33 and 32, and we, David and Kathleen, were both left widowed and childless at the ages of 32 and 29. We became our own support group of two via e-mail and telephone.
At first, we were the only other person that either of us knew who lost their young spouse before they had a chance to live out their dreams and raise a family and who had experienced the extremes of life and death involved in caring for a terminally ill spouse. Our e-mails to each other started as support, became a wonderful friendship, and evolved into old fashioned love story as we learned more about each other through our letter writing, telephone calls and visits. We are proof that there is life after brain tumors, and that there is hope for happiness for widows and widowers.
