I second everything you've just articulated so beautifully.
Jack was the first to send me a warm welcome to this forum after I posted my intro/battle story. I immediately felt welcome and safe. Jack was an amazing man, and always felt like the wisdom behind everything, the benivalent patriarch. He helped me out of some tight jams in my early days and despite never meeting him in person, I felt like I had him in my corner. I remember talking to him about his avatar one time, and why he chose it, he said because Leonard Cohen was one of his two favorite artists, the other being The Gorillaz. I said, why not have some fun and change your avatar to your other favorite band? See what happens. So he did -
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+Gorilla...66134214367080 and it lasted no more than a day.... lol.... it makes me laugh, there was an uproar...it was funny. It wasn't much later that he actually put his real photo from before WG as his avatar. Ever since Jack, I can't look at a photo of Leonard Cohen and not get a little butterfly in my stomach feeling like Jack's around.
He gave great advice and he made me laugh and see hope where before there appeared to be little. His passing hit me like a brick.... a ton of bricks.
Those were the days, when I needed this place most in my life - right after diagnosis, there was this incredible mix of energies all working towards keeping our collective as healthy and 'normal' as we can.
Jack was the wisdom, kindness, pespective gained with having to deal with this disease through those early difficult days when it was all experimental and being one that survived their experiments much longer than most.
Sangye was the practical, scientific encyclopedia with a very healthy mix of empathy and compassion. Sangye is pretty active on Twitter where she has over 6600 followers. She's helping all kinds of other souls, animals, birds... she spreads a very beautiful message, widely.
Lightwarrior was exactly that, Christy was a warrior spreading light. She was a nurturer and a healer, perfect for being a nurse in real life. She had a positive view of everything, it was magical to watch. Sadly, we also lost her way too early.
Al came after I had stabalized and was less active here, but we connected and I saw him as the academic of the crew. Finding research and being our go to if you wanted a science journal broken down into English. Al and I had many great discussions on the Autoimmune Disease research/awareness under one umbrella. Al too, lost the WG battle.
Phil rounded off the energy on here, that was my ever present friend, with his welcoming and wealth of personal experience. Phil has suffered greatly at the hands of WG and brings with him a wealth of knowledge and compassion. He has spent most of his young life under the clutches and has chosen to share his experience to help others rather than turning inward. Phil and I have had our little scraps here and there, but that's to be expected of family - especially family where everyone is on pred.
My best wishes go to Phil, and he better not stop his Saskatchewan-scrappy, pool-cue-waving, self from kicking some whoop-ass on this lung issue right now. I know you have it in you Phil. I know that every fairy tale has to have an antagonist, but they all get beaten in the end, so let's get on with the fairy tale part please. Sending Phil my best wishes, brightest light, and healingest ju jus, because this story has only just begun.
Jack, Lightwarrior, and Al, a triad whose passing, so close to each other, shook me to the core. It was too much in too short a time.
One is too much!
But now I feel like I have them closer somehow.
Thanks Hammy for bringing Jack back.
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Originally Posted by marta
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