In Which I Say Goodbye...

My most absolute favorite pic of Deb and her daughter.

Deb. Debutaunt. Queen of the Universe. Inspiring woman. Champion of kicking cancer's ass. She's gone.

If you've been about the blogging world for awhile, you've probably ran across a site called Debutaunt, a witty and well written blog by a woman in Texas. She was awesome. In 2005, she was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia), something she battled the shit out of. In 2006, a timely stem cell transplant from her brother brought that shit down. In November of 2008, the cancer reared it's ugly head again. On Monday, she died.

I make no pretense that I was her intimate friend. I was just another person who read her blog, laughed at her posts, exchanged an odd email with her here and there, and prayed like hell when she relapsed. I cried my eyes out on Monday. I cried for her family, her young daughter, and the fact that she was struck down at such a young age. She was truly a lovely woman, and I am just furious, sad, and totally devastated that she passed away.

Whether walking in a Relay For Life or convincing people to join the marrow donor registry, she was always trying to raise awareness. I do know her one pet peeve was breast cancer awareness, because it overshadowed every other cancer out there and was just so damned commercialized (yes, you can commercialize cancer). So she made it her ultimate mission to say, "HEY! There are other cancers out there! Let's give them some attention, too!"

I have decided, because of her, to join the marrow registry as soon as I can shed some weight. We had talked about this before (read: bitching about our weight problems in an email or two), but now I have a goal, a purpose. I am going to lose weight for Deb and all that she stood for. I feel guilty now because I could have lost the weight before and joined the program while she was alive, which would have been a victory for her to know that another person joined. I didn't, however. I was lazy. I also thought (and this is what is eating me up) she would always be around to be proud of the people who gave marrow because of her story and her fight.

Goodnight, Deb. I will miss you and never forget you.

You're in the arms of the angel,
May you find some comfort here...