Face of Death

Life Lessons from Paul in the Face of Death

• Jeffrey M. Drazen, M.D.

My brother Paul, a rabbi, died recently, just shy of 3 years after the diagnosis of widely metastatic colon cancer. The story of his diagnosis and treatment is all too familiar. An apparently healthy 64-year-old man has a sudden onset of lower abdominal pain. Imaging reveals an obstructing lesion. Surgery leads to the diagnosis of colon cancer, stage IV at diagnosis, with hepatic, peritoneal, and pulmonary spread. After a diverting colostomy and time to recover from the procedure, he begins a series of treatments. Within a year, many of the metastases have melted away, his tumor markers are down, and he feels reasonably normal. Over the next 2 years, he burns through one treatment after another, including the newest and best medical science has to offer. But after 30 months, the tumor gains the upper hand as peritoneal and hepatic disease lead to biliary stenosis and massive ascites. He is in and out of the hospital with one complication after another until he has had his fill. He returns home to hospice, and within a few days he leaves this world — 34 months after his diagnosis.