Underground Stream
my comment to ili: here is a salute to your friends and courageous women everywhere...my friend krista's one-year anniversary is coming up in march. she fought ovarian cancer for so long and so bravely.

and then i wanted to write a little bit more about krista, who was instrumental in my previous boss's decision to hire me back in 1996, and did everything she could to keep me employed when i was basically a wreck. a more generous woman i have not known in my life.

Before i met her krista had lost her son Bill due to a weakened heart following years of drug abuse. he was 26 when he died. her apartment had burned with everything she owned going up in smoke. krista's health history included a stroke, cancer, migraines, arthritis, gout, and a heart attack. during her convalescence from the latter, krista's family [herself, her son and her daughter] was supported by a CPA for whom she worked, and krista never forgot the kindness without which she and her children would have ended up who knew where?

krista did not let many opportunities to help those less fortunate get by her. on many occasions i was the less fortunate, and whenever i would thank her krista would bring up leonard's mitzvah when she had her heart attack and say to me, "pass it on," which according to Krista was all the thanks Leonard wanted and all she was trying to do.

after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, krista nearly died several times in the year or so before bekah died. she underwent surgery for the cancer, contracted endocarditis and hovered near death for like a whole week. when bekah died krista was back working full time, and she kept on working up until about five months before her death, if memory serves.

the last months were painful. krista could barely walk, her kidneys had failed, there were extended hospitalizations and - i think - a period of time in a nursing home situation. toward the end she stayed at her sister's place in West LA, where i visited her a couple of times. we had a frank conversation after the cancer spread to her liver: no pretending there was any resolution left but krista's death. i asked her to look up my girl; she promised me she would.

this post is getting so long: i'll share next time how krista and bekah let me know they'd found each other on the other side, and let me know they are okay.
- posted by barbara @ 1/22/2005 11:30:00 PM