To the editor:

One can imagine the preoccupation that comes with the diagnosis of a terminal cancer; and the only treatment option of a “potentially” fatal bone-marrow transplant. It would be all too easy to succumb to despair and bitterness.

However, in spite of the hardship and challenge I find thrust upon me, it has been a blessing in disguise. As a friend once jokingly told me, “None of us gets out alive.” How many of us then truly get to “wake up” to the miracle of all that our lives hold; and to be present in the “moment” and truly conscious of the blessings of being alive.

I have always considered myself a happy person and have harbored no regrets in the life I have lived, but in the six years since my diagnosis, and confronted with my inevitable mortality, I have been blessed with an intensity of living and an immediacy of experience that cannot be adequately expressed in words.

I find myself equally at a loss for words to express the joy in my heart at the outpouring of care and concern from close and even unknown friends within the South Whidbey Island community. I am truly humbled and blessed to be part of this unique community we all call home.

I would like to thank my friend, lover, and wife, Shevaun, for being the kind of partner dreams are made from. I would like to thank Fred and Sharon Lundahl, Cindy and Harlan Mason, Linda and Gregg Ridder, Chris Crotty, Barbara Prochnau, Danielle Bodine, Claire Moore, Marsha Morgan, Carol Kerley, Linda Dunham, Jeannane and Toni Calio, and Troupe Hipnotica for their giving spirits. Kathryn and Davidson – thank you for being there and sharing the tears and the laughter, the joy and the sorrow. Thank you, George, for being my musical mentor and keeping me from having to say, “If only I had…” Thank you to Karin Parish, our furry child’s other mother, as well as Diana Bublitz and Elsa Levitt for back-up furry childcare.

Thank you to Gary and Beth Smith, owners of Mukilteo Coffee, Pam Bickel and Whidbey Island Bank, Sister Monk Harem for their music, emcee Sue Frause and Janet Ploof. Thank you to Cut-a-thon stylists Aimee and her staff, Sean and his staff, Cliff, William and his staff, and Vicki and her staff. Thanks to Randy and Nancy Akada at Columbia Beach Barbecue. Thanks to Shannon Keller, Jeannae Murphy and Marge Wicker for working at the event, and especially to everyone who donated items for the auction.

We can’t forget Patricia Duff and her wonderful article in The South Whidbey Record, as well as coverage in the Marketplace.

Keith Holt

[Now in the UW hospital after a bone marrow transplant]

[From Keith’s friends: Contributions can still be made to the “Keith Holt Donation Fund” at Whidbey Island Bank, PO Box 665, Langley WA 98260.]