Tim Stelzl died today. He was the husband of my friend Donna, and the father of 4 children; Topher, Steven, Paige, and Tim. He loved to ride his motorcycle and spend time with his family; enjoyed having his friends over to watch football games and drink beer; and he had a twisted sense of humor that he was able to hold onto until almost the end. Tim was only 41 years old, and died of lung cancer. He started smoking when he was around 12 years old, and this is the toll it took on him.

Now I hear people say, "Oh, a smoker, what do they expect?" But let me tell you, nobody deserves to suffer the way Tim did because of a bad habit. He fought long and hard against the monster, but in the end, he just couldn't bear the pain anymore and asked Donna and the doctors to take him off the respirator and let him go.

Any of you who might be reading this and think it can't happen to you, think again. If you smoke, stop now. If someone you love smokes, go ahead and show them this post. And then dig down a bit in your pocket, and make a donation. Lung cancer is still one of the cancers that is pretty much a death sentence - more research and more treatments are needed to try to extend the life of someone more than 20 months after diagnosis.

Please make donations to the LUNGevity Foundation for research of Lung Cancer.

Here is the direct link to Tim's page.

http://events.lungevity.org/goto/tim.stelzl