Published in today’s Newsday, the daily newspaper from Long Island, N.Y., was a moving tribute to Lauren Terrazzano. Lauren was a Newsday reporter who, along with articles about the treatment of the elderly and foster children, chronicled her personal life and battle against recurrent lung cancer. Lauren died at Sloane Kettering Hospital last Tuesday night.

Many lung cancer survivors followed Lauren’s story. She was especially loved by many of them as she gave lung cancer patients a voice. In reading the tribute, I cannot feel that she actually gave all cancer patients a voice, a voice we so desperately need. Periodically, I am going to share with you some excerpts from her chronicle.

ON LIFE AND DEATH

“For those of us with cancer, the fear of death lingers coyly, it is always lurking as we plot our futures through doctor appointments, CT scans, biopsies and blood work. It creeps up at the oddest moments, like when it was time to renew my passport and I realized I could expire before the document does.” – Lauren Terrazzano

Joel T. Nowak MA, MSW