Licking Mars

Back in 2007, I was attending the annual General Assembly of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada when we were given a tour of the meteorite lab near the university which included handling items not normally available to the public. There, I had the amazing opportunity to handle meteorites from the Moon and Mars. These were formed when pieces were blasted off the Moon or Mars by particularly large strikes by comets or asteroids, pieces which eventually ended up on Earth as meteorites.

I was breathless when I held the Mars meteorite. Mars! In my hands! Wow!

I had a sudden, out-of-character, spectacularly ridiculous urge to lick it. Maybe I'd be the first person to taste Mars! Of course, I didn't ACTUALLY act of my urge which would have contaminated the sample - I am a scientist first and foremost.

Now, eight years later, I'm dying. I've just been told that I have incurable, final stage colon cancer that's spread to the liver, possibly other organs too. Treatment will only buy me time but even that has to end sometime.

It's said that what matters isn't the years of your life but rather the life in your years. I'm 43 years old and my biggest regret in life is not licking Mars when I had the chance, so I feel I've lived quite satisfactorily.

This is the last blog of my life. The median survival rate of people in my spot is 1 person in 10 over 5 years, with most patients dying at about the 2 year mark after they've been diagnosed. I don't know how long I've got, be it 6 months or maybe 2-3 years but I'm going to keep writing until I'm dead. I'll be documenting some of my medical stuff here - it won't be pretty but they're here for other cancer patients. To even it out, I'll also be blogging the moments of joy I encounter as life continues. I hope I can share some joy or at least bring a smile to you in my writings here.