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David Kuo May Be Dying

He is being stretched out on the cross of brain cancer, says his wife Kim: It was an excruciating day. Watching that level of suffering – even after all we’ve been through – was too much. He was writhing in pain, and mumbling incoherently unless he could eke out “help me, help me” which meant […]

He is being stretched out on the cross of brain cancer, says his wife Kim:

It was an excruciating day. Watching that level of suffering – even after all we’ve been through – was too much. He was writhing in pain, and mumbling incoherently unless he could eke out “help me, help me” which meant he needed pain meds.

His body has just been through too much. Over the next 2-3 days, we’ll be able to figure out if he snaps back and could consider a lighter course of treatment (one in particular “Avastin” really seemed to work well on the tumor). But if he struggles to recover from the meningitis, he won’t be able to do any tumor treatments. So, we would be back to the 2 month prognosis.

So, please pray for his comfort and peace. For discernment, and definitely for supernatural peace to overwhelm Aidan and Olivia as we tell them the full weight of this for the first time. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to write again.

Please, please pray for David and his family, especially as so many of you go into Holy Week.

I want to point something out. I learned this update about David’s condition from Andrew Sullivan’s site. I first met David five or six years ago, in Washington, when he was talking to me about going to work for him. He was in remission from cancer then. He told me about struggling with cancer, and how unbelievably sick he was. And then he told me that Andrew Sullivan, whom he barely knew, showed him an incredible, and incredibly personal, act of mercy, at no small risk to himself. That really got to David, and it got to me, too. To the best of my knowledge, Andrew has never spoken of what he did for David, and I won’t give details because the story is not mine to tell. Still, I don’t think David would mind my saying in general that Andrew had shown him mercy in a time when everything about life seemed merciless.

Andrew and I have argued bitterly in public over the years, but hearing this from David showed me that there is always more to people than what they say in public. You never really know what people are like in private, and what they do for others when nobody is looking. Keep that in mind when you judge others; you may not know the whole story. Remembering what Andrew did for David when he was suffering made me e-mail Andrew after my sister Ruthie’s diagnosis, and mend fences. Some things in life are far more important than politics. May God be with David and the Kuo family, and with all those who comfort David.

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