From Alex’s Family

Feb 3, 2019: "My oncologist did mention that if at any point I want to just stop treatment and make myself comfortable, that I should let them know as they won’t keep asking. I have zero intention of going that route, but it’s a scary situation to think about. It kind of makes it very real."

Feb 18, 2019: "Despite my best efforts over the past two and a half years, the leukemia has won."

Feb 27, 2019: "Alex was with his family when he passed peacefully earlier today, Wednesday, February 27th."

Man, it goes so fast. I think on the 3rd of this month I was looking at bicycles that were on sale and trying to figure out what groceries to buy for dinner.

I didn't know Alex, or really about him until his blog showed up earlier this month. But I was really moved by his grace and sharing and how many people his work touched and made better. A beautiful life and mind, lost now to the fire of time.

I decided to read his last couple years of blog posts just to really try to grok him...just...really amazed. I wish I had half the maturity he did when he was facing such shitty shitty dice roles in life.

The post where I just lost it.

July 28th, 2018: "Today marked the completion of my 34th trip around the sun.

I spent the day at home due to fatigue and just generally not feeling great due to this latest IV medication I’m on. One of my sisters was able to make it down from near Seattle though which was a cool surprise!

Here’s hoping my health issues are behind me when 35 rolls around. I certainly didn’t expect to still be dealing with this crap at this point."

What strikes me most clearly about Alex is how quickly his disease progressed from managed, to life ending. He posted on February 3rd about his bone marrow samples coming back with a 20% cancer indicator, and sounded cautious but determined to defeat the disease. Unfortunately he did not.

Within two weeks his liver had failed due to graft-versus-host disease and he would not survive.

Life is a precious flame, it takes little to blow it out. Live each moment deeply. Tell your family you love them.

I never knew Alex, but I'm saddened to hear of his passing. I hope his loved ones cherish the good memories, and he lives on through their memories for years to come.

If anybody is interested in a leukemia charity to donate to, the Leukemia Research Foundation has four stars on Charity Navigator: https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summar...

Direct donation link: https://www.allbloodcancers.org/donate

His last commits, coding till the very end: https://github.com/Viper007Bond/vipers-video-quicktags-migra...

10 days between two blog entries, heartbreaking

I feel this link would be more informative with context (I leave it to mods).

https://wptavern.com/alex-mills-ends-his-battle-with-leukemi...

Quite a lesson in facing adversity with grace both from Alex and his family.

Just read all of the cancer posts on his blog. Very sad.