UPDATE: After writing this post I belatedly learned that amazingly enough, Randy Pausch had spoken with my own angel on earth and greatly inspired that special person. That wonderful person in turn has inspired me. Thank you Randy for the gift that you gave so many, including my angel.*
One never knows how they will react when faced with their own mortality and the prospect of death by a cruel fatal illness. I like to think that I would exhibit some class and character and go out with some flare as opposed to dying in a mean spirited, nasty frame of mind. How to die with dignity and class is something that local Chesapeake resident, Randy Pausch, demonstrated to an incredible degree. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot's story on Pausch's passing:
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Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon University Professor whose upbeat talk about how to live life with gusto while dying was viewed by millions and led to a best-selling book, died early Friday at his Chesapeake home. He was 47. Pausch was an accomplished professor of computer science, human-computer and design who founded a center for entertainment technology at Carnegie Mellon and pioneered the Alice project, a type of software designed to allow anyone to create 3-D animations.
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But it was his lecture on living with joy and zeal, delivered at the university about a month after he found out he was dying of cancer, that gained him fame. . . . Pausch gave his talk in September after finding out he had three to six months of healthy living left. His pancreatic cancer, which he’d been fighting since he was diagnosed in the fall of 2006, had spread to his liver and spleen, essentially a death sentence. The lecture was titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”
But it was his lecture on living with joy and zeal, delivered at the university about a month after he found out he was dying of cancer, that gained him fame. . . . Pausch gave his talk in September after finding out he had three to six months of healthy living left. His pancreatic cancer, which he’d been fighting since he was diagnosed in the fall of 2006, had spread to his liver and spleen, essentially a death sentence. The lecture was titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”
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After the lecture, Pausch appeard on the Oprah Winfrey Show and was interviewed by Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America. In May, he was listed by Time Magazine as one of the World’s Top-100 Most Influential People. More than 6 million people have viewed versions of the lecture online, according to his Web site. The lecture was eventually developed into a book, co-authored by Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffrey Zaslow.
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Pausch moved his family to Chesapeake not long after finding out his cancer was terminal, in order to be closer to his wife Jai’s family in Norfolk. In a post on June 26, he wrote about how he was considering going off of chemotherapy, because it was making him weaker and its effects on his tumor weren’t worth the trade-off.
Pausch moved his family to Chesapeake not long after finding out his cancer was terminal, in order to be closer to his wife Jai’s family in Norfolk. In a post on June 26, he wrote about how he was considering going off of chemotherapy, because it was making him weaker and its effects on his tumor weren’t worth the trade-off.
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Pausch is survived by his wife, Jai Glasgow Pausch, and his three children, Dylan, Logan, and Chloe.
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