My precious daughter Laura recently died from stage 4 colorectal cancer after nearly a year of travelling on a horrifically tragic journey. The initial joy of expecting her first baby at the age of 39 was slowly and systematically displaced by ever worse news. First, an abnormal blood test result required follow up evaluation; then came the news that there was colorectal cancer; and shortly thereafter the news of metastasis to Laura’s liver: The cancer was already stage 4 and life threatening.

Because of this, Laura's baby had to be delivered quite early to transition from “baby friendly” chemotherapy to much more aggressive treatments. Although it was absolutely wonderful watching the unbounded joy Laura always showed when taking care of her baby first in the NICU at Johns Hopkins and then at home, it was nonetheless heartbreaking watching how much physical pain she was in and how sick the cancer treatments invariably made her feel. I will always admire Laura’s heroic dedication to her son, her husband, and her extended family even as her own health was failing. This dedication was also reflected in working literally until the week before she died to ensure that the students that she supported as the director of graduate studies in the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University were taken care of during their educational journey and career development—despite how much she herself was suffering.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking aspect of the journey, and one that i would trade my own life for without hesitation, is that Laura did not have the chance to raise the son she waited so long for and so joyously looked forward to raising. This story unto itself is noteworthy in the context of the dramatic increase in colorectal cancer and deaths from colorectal cancer in relatively young people in recent years in the US, and the grief parents like us have........

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