A Good Friend
I have never shared this story before, partially because I still refuse to accept the ending, but here goes. When I worked as a correctional officer, I met one of the greatest humans to ever exist. He was in his 50s but acted like a 20-year-old. He was crazy in love with the Rolling Stones.
He was my best friend. We talked about everything. One night, he came up to me and told me he was having a really hard time keeping food down.
I had been put through the wringer when they tried to diagnose my cancer and had several symptoms of other cancers, so I offered him advice from what they had told me. I said he needed to be checked for celiac disease.
He came back to me a few weeks later, and he was shouting a sad revelation: “Darn it, you were right! Now I can’t eat anything good!!” He was upset, but not mad at me. A few days later, he pooped himself at work. I helped him out and no one knew it had happened. He started to lose a lot of weight.
I told him to get checked for pancreatic cancer. He said they did check him and that he was clear. Over the next 1.5 months, he had lost half his body weight.
Then, on April 2nd, he was admitted to the hospital for extreme jaundice and distended belly. He was soon diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given two years to live.
Tragically, he was gone within two weeks. I lost my best friend that day. I still can feel his presence whenever I listen to the music of the Stones. I have to stop writing now because I’m getting too emotional. Story Credit: Reddit/NoviceApproach