“One day,” you said to me, “I saw the sunset forty-four times!” And a little later you added: “You know—one loves the sunset, when one is so sad…” “Were you so sad, then?” I asked, “on the day of the forty-four sunsets?” But the little prince made no reply.” ― Antoine de Saint Exupery, The […]
Author: Mitch Lebovic
Caregivers
When Dr. McCoy first saw something concerning in Alex’s X-rays, he sent her to see an oncologist. He gave her a name and address. All we knew was the office was somewhere in Baltimore. I drove to College Park to pick up Alex. About 40 minutes later, we pulled up to the University of Maryland […]
Doctors
We met a lot of people in the medical profession during Alex’s illness—not just doctors and nurses, but all sorts of people attached to the process who I never thought about before. Most were awesome people—selfless and caring. Some were not. All of them taught me lessons about the reality of today’s medical profession. When […]
The Funny, The Scary, and the Heartbreaking
There is nothing funny about cancer, but there was one moment during Alex’s treatment that made me laugh. When Alex was in the hospital, either her mother or I was always with her. I was usually on the night shift. One night in May 2016, I photographed a baseball game in Frederick, MD. Afterward, I […]
Gainesville
In November of 2018, Blitz and I drove to Gainesville to spend Thanksgiving with Alex and Dakota. I had seen her about a month before. Alex’s cancer recurred as a mass in the soft tissue of her left leg. She underwent chemotherapy which did little to reduce the size of the tumor. Then she returned […]
Star Trek, The Godfather and HIPAA Compliance
Alex’s cancer journey gave us many reasons to cry. But even during the darkest times, there is humor if you look for it—and sometimes it can help you make it through. When Alex needed to choose an orthopedic doctor in 2015, I went to the Carefirst website to find one that participated in our insurance […]
October 11, 2001
On October 8, 2001, an American Airlines flight was headed to Chicago. Suddenly, a passenger started screaming, “Save the Sears Tower. Save yourselves.” He was convinced the plane was headed towards the country’s tallest building and tried to break into the cockpit to stop it. The man was subdued by passengers and crew. No damage […]
Letter to Alex
September 11, 2001 was shocking for me, as it was for every American. After an emotional day, I did what I always do to process my thoughts. I wrote. Nothing even approaching this magnitude had happened in my life to that point. I felt it was important to preserve these memories for my children so […]
The Story of a Girl
From a journal Alex began after her cancer diagnosis. Cancer. What is the first thing you think of when you hear this word that provokes so many reactions? Maybe you have known and loved an individual who battled this disease. Maybe you have been diagnosed yourself and are looking for insight into another individual’s life […]
The Wake Up Call
Shortly after being diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, Alex started a journal. Her mother found it on Alex’s computer shortly after Alex passed away. There were only a few entries. Here’s how she described her introduction to cancer. The Wake Up Call It was very early in the morning, before sunrise, when I awoke; one of […]