Several years ago the parents of a friend of my son told us we were in for a treat. Their very best friends in the world were moving up the street from us. It turned out that the friends had a daughter the same age as our daughter and they ended up hanging out for a few years.

Times change, people change, kids change. Clare and Isabel didn’t hang out so much after a while but they always kept in touch.

What I didn’t know about the new family was that the mother, Carolina, was a breast cancer survivor. And a breast cancer survivor champion. She founded an organization for educating Hispanic women about breast cancer, then worked for a national breast cancer organization after leaving the one she founded in good hands.

When I heard that her cancer was back I fully expected her to beat it because that is who she was.

Carolina died last night.

Rest in peace.

Fuck you cancer.