A man I knew from politics died yesterday. Ben Westland was Oregon’s Treasurer. I first met Ben when I was in TV and got to interview him on the Water Cooler Segment we used to air on KEZI. Ben was running for governor at the time. I really liked the guy and thought he did a great job.
During my campaign for Secretary of State Ben and I were on opposite sides of the political ring but we still got along very well. Ben died of Cancer on Sunday. It’s the first person I’ve known that has dies of cancer since I’ve been diagnosed with the disease. I cannot tell you how devastating it is right now. I’m new at this but I wonder is it always this odd when someone dies of cancer? I think about the day Ben was told he had cancer. Did he ever think that he would truly die of the disease or did he think he’d beat it?
Perhaps this is just my new reality. Perhaps this is the connection cancer gives you with others like you. I never wanted to connect this closely with cancer and yet I find myself sitting here feeling very sad for Ben, his family and……I don’t know what else to say. It just sucks.
Ben is the man in the plaid shirt standing between my wife Kathy and myself.
