The message read:

Hey there. I don’t want you blindsided by an obit, but our friend is in hospice. Cancer. It happened very fast.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

Late last month she woke up up unable to move normally and with slurred speech. Was taken to the emergency room where they determined it had not been a stroke. After further testing, they found two brain tumors.

• My friend. A month from receiving her doctorate.

• My friend. A voice for the voiceless.

• My friend. One of the toughest people I know.

Fuck Cancer.