My Uncle Nick

I was driving home from work Thursday evening and just as I was getting off the freeway exit I received a phone call from my mom. She called to let me know that my Uncle Nick had passed away that day. Wow, what a complete and unexpected shock. My Uncle Nick Drakulich was diagnosed with cancer back around November, it was some kind of tumor under his tongue but I'm not sure what kind of cancer it was considered. He started chemotherapy and radiation in January and the prognosis seemed extremely hopeful and the most likely outcome seemed to be that this would be cured without many complications. Unfortunately as I have come to know all too well, nothing is very easy when chemo is involved. I'm still not sure what exactly caused his passing but it's a very surreal thing. I didn't know my Uncle Nick very well...in fact I can probably count all the times I spent with him on one hand. But all the memories I have of him are happy and memories I'm glad to have. We were able to vistit Nick & Elaine this summer as we made our way to Seattle. I'm now very grateful that my kids got to meet Nick and even play with him a little bit for the short time we were there.

Death isn't something I've had to deal with many times in my life. Mainly just my Grandpa Drakulich and my baseball coach growing up. As Britt and I sat talking the night we found out about Nick it definately brought us back to reality a little bit with regards to how serious cancer and its treatment methods can be. As for my Uncle Nick, we will miss you and I hope Heaven has some good fly fishing for you.