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Dang. This is going to take some time to absorb. Right now I'm just stunned. I'm so sorry for your loss, to say nothing of Hatrack's loss.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I'm so sorry to hear of Steven's death. Losing a child has to be the hardest thing a parent could ever experience.
Steven seemed like an articulate and intelligent young man. I always enjoyed reading his posts, even when I didn't agree with him. As others have said, he was a valued member of this forum.
Plus, he was a fellow Marlins and Heat fan, as well as a fellow 'Nole. (I'm also from south Florida.)
My sincere condolences to you and your family.
Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000
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I am another person who never interacted much with your son, but considered him part of the fabric of hatrack. I followed his posts about his cancer, and was relieved when it seemed he had beat it. I am so, so sorry to hear about his passing, and wish your family comfort and peace. He will be missed here, a small fraction of how much he must be missed by those who knew him in in person.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I am truly sorry for your loss. Though I don't think I ever interacted with your son (I mostly lurk), I always admired his maturity and grace.
A while back I was looking around in the Wayback machine, and I stumbled upon this thread, made back on August 1st 2002. According to nfl's profile he registered on July 31st, so I guess this must be the first thread he ever made on this site. I thought you might enjoy reading it. He must have been 14 or 15 years old at the time. Amazing to see how much a person can mature, isn't it?
I didn't often agree with him, but I always thought he was a valuable contribution to any discussion he participated in. He will be sorely missed.
Posts: 739 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I am so sorry for your loss. You have my deepest sympathy. My recent memory of nfl is his post in Bell's cancer story. Just make me cry to read this again. Thank you so much for letting us know. Keiko
quote:newfoundlogic Member # 3907
posted December 12, 2005 07:43 PMDecember 12, 2005 07:43 PM ________________________________________ Sorry I didn't see this thread earlier, but I for one know what you're going through except frankly what I went through was worse. Because of the agressive nature of my cancer it had already developed four major tumors by the time they caught it. In addition, a more aggressive chemotherapy regimen was needed involving stronger drugs over a hospitalized 72 hour period, the side effects of which were felt immediately and lasted for almost the entire time period between chemotherapy treatments. You were also fortunate in my opinion to get the surgery out of the way at the beginning so that you were essentially cancer free from the start of your treatment and the rest is basically just to make sure it doesn't come back. Also, your prognosis was very good considering mine (which I was never actually told by the doctors and I didn't find out until very recently) was only 29% for a five year period.
I don't know if you're still having problems with nausea or if the medicines you've been give have been effective, but for what its worth I found Zofran to be the best medicine for chemo related nausea.
Steven was here before I was even a lurker, and I always considered him to be, as some others have said, a part of the fabric of Hatrack. I had no idea he was so young. I remember disagreeing and agreeing with him on many things, but I always thought he was admirably eloquent and possessed a great deal of intellectual insight and humor. He will be missed. I'm so sorry.
Rest in peace, nfl.
Posts: 1595 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Count me as one of the ones who couldn't believe he was only 19, even though I knew he was at FSU. I'm one of the ones who traded jabs with him about his choice of college. I'm very sorry he's gone.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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At first, I like many people would have said "I didn't know newfoundlogic well". But I did remember a discussion we had over the Israel/Palestine question, and that lead me to searching. If you use the search feature on this forum, you can search by topic and put his member number, 3907, as a parameter and you will find a wealth of his writings.
I always looked a the name "newfoundlogic" and was skeptical, thinking someday someone would get his goat and make him behave irrationally. But as I look over his posts, it was true. He was not only mature for his age, he was more mature than people 10 and 15 years his senior. For him to agree or support something I said was gratifying. He cultivated his presence here with care in a way that leads me to believe he could not have been very different in conducting his non-hatrack life.
"Listen with respect, argue with passion" is somewhat of a Hatrack Motto and I think newfoundlogic embodied the first as well as anyone. But there were things he was passionate about, like his loyalty to Israel. He didn't kid around or get in scuffles like most of us do. He had a breadth of perspective.
It's been a little over 13 years that my son died. I don't really know what you are going through; everyone walks their own path. I will do what I can to help in the archiving process so that Stevens words are still here for you if you ever feel like they would be of comfort.
On that subject, is there already a thread for this? I didn't see any landmarks for Steven.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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nfl was a passionate and intelligent poster. I don't know that I interacted with him directly all that much, but he definitely made his mark on Hatrack. We're poorer without him. You have my deepest sympathies and, for what it's worth, something I've never done before (((newfoundlogic's family))) - that's a Hatrack symbol for a virtual hug.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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It is a sad day indeed when the Hatrack River community loses one of it's valuable members. I add my voice to those who have already offered condolences. I hope you are able to find peace and comfort in your time of great loss.
Posts: 786 | Registered: Jun 2003
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All I can do right now is echo the words of my fellow Jatraqueros. I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you so much for taking the time and being so kind as to let us know of your son's passing. This is an incredible community, and I am a glad he was a part of it. (And, he will always remain so through his posts.) May the rest of your life be sprinkled with his memory.
Posts: 822 | Registered: Jul 2001
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We'll miss you, nfl. I know that I'll think of you when catchers report to training camp.
Thank you for sharing this with us Newfoundlogic's Dad. It's something that we wanted -- needed -- to know. I wish you well.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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My wife and I really appreciate the comments from everyone responding. Last night when everyone left we read them together before trying to sleep. We will do the same tonight. It helps keep a part of him alive for us.
As a number of you suggested I am anxious to retrieve as many of his posts as possible- not only for us but for his younger siblings to read later, when they will want to know more as to what their brother was like. The webmaster said he will be contacting the site designer to see what can be accomplished as to the posts beyond 300.
We were struck by what were apparently his first posts which St. Yogi linked via the Wayback Machine. Reading those is a great memory, better for me than any photographs could be.
I have no technical knowledge. Steven used to deride my lack of computer capability. What is the Wayback Machine and how do you use it?
In reading the one set of posts from 8/1/02 compared to the more recent, I was reminded of his development. I now realize that this growth probably was due in large part to his interaction with the members of this forum. We thank you for what you gave him.
Posts: 19 | Registered: Jan 2006
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I never had any personal interaction with Steven, but as others have said, he was a kind of Hatrack constant. I remember him primarily as a "voice of reason" figure - his posts were always articulate, mature, and well thought out, and I enjoyed reading them.
When you click on the button to operate the "Wayback Machine," you'll have a big selection of dated links to Hatrack. You can explore Hatrack as it was captured on those dates - including threads and posts now deleted on this site.
It will take a lot of work, since I don't think there's a way to search for Steven's posts specifically. You or someone will have to go through all posts individually.
I'm engaged in something related for someone else right now - my own experience with what I'm doing indicates this would be well worth the time, energy and effort. These are "snapshots" of things he thought were worth talking about and often arguing about. You can take your time at it. The Wayback Machine looks like it's here to stay for awhile.
Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I am still completely in shock by this... I'm so sorry that you and your family has to go through this difficult time. Please know that I am thinking of you. Steven was only my age, and that makes it so much more unrealistic for me... I can only imagine what it must be like for you. Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Oh, this is horible. I hadn't even realized he was sick (I stay focused on certain threads, and tend not to notice other threads). I'm very saddened by his death.
NFL's dad--as a father myself (oldest is almost 16), I can only imagine how this must feel, to lose a child you love. All I can do is tell you that he was a great young man, and we're all made poorer by his passing.
Please accept a big, "virtual" hug, dad to dad. I'm so very sorry for your loss...
I was just sick to read the title of this thread. I always looked forward to Steven's posts - it wasn't just that he was so clear and reasonable in expressing his thoughts and opinions, he was just so interesting. I always made a point to look at any thread that he started or even just posted in. He will be sorely missed.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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I'm sorry for your loss. I've never talked to Steven here, but I lost a high school friend to cancer, so I understand how sad and unfair it can seem to have sickness take away someone so young. Best wishes to your family. I'm glad Hatrack can help give you something of him to keep.
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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NFL's Dad: No, we should be thanking you for what your son did for each of our own developments here.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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He always struck me as very intelligent, and very articulate. It must be a credit to his upbringing.
I am deepy sorry for your loss. Know that he's not merely another cancer statistic, his presence will be greatly missed on this board, and in the lives of his family and friends. Of that I have no doubt. Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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We really appreciate the thoughts of his friends on the site that we never knew he had.
A number of you indicated surprise at Steven's death given that Steven had written that he had No Evidence of Disease and upbeat. That was true and in fact he still was cancer-free when he died, as far as we know. After that scan showing no remaining cancer Steven was completing his protocal of total abdominal radiation in combination with chemo and then a stem cell rescue. His resistence was non-existent. He got a fungal infection that moved into his lungs from which he could not recover.
Unfortunately, he first showed symptoms over the long New Years weekend. Medical attention in hospitals generally is severely reduced on weekends. It was the following Tuesday when his condition was acted on, despite our concerns, and he was transfered to the ICU. He was kept sedated or medically paralyzed until his death, 18 days later.
He never saw this end coming. The last he knew he was feeling very badly, recovering from his last really rigorous treatments. As soon as he got out we were going shopping for a new car for him and he was planning to start school at the University of Miami, to which he had transfered to be closer to home.
In a sense he beat the cancer but the treatments killed him. We knew that this was not uncommon because of the intensity of the protocal for his cancer.
As you can imagine this is very painful, but I wanted to share this with everyone who wondered about him. For the possible event that one of you or someone you are close to is treated for cancer I wanted to underline the need to stay especially vigilant when resistence is low, notwithstanding medical supervision during hospitalization.
Posts: 19 | Registered: Jan 2006
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NFL's Dad, I'm a professor at the University of Utah. For the last several years I have been studying fungal infections as a part of my research program. I have known for some time that fungal infections were a major cause of death in cancer patients but until now, I had not known anyone personally who died this way. Thank you for sharing the details of the story. I will work just that much harder because of it.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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My son died from a punctured aorta during angioplasty. Though even now babies with his disorder (aortic sthenosis) rarely live over a year.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I'm so sorry to hear of Steven's passing. Steven had real class and an original voice, and I will miss him. My condolences to your family.
Steven's father, I didn't know your son Steven well, but I enjoyed debating him, although it was often frustrating because he was a better debater than I. Include me as one who is surprised at his young age--he wrote with considerable breadth of knowledge and maturity.
These 3 quotes from this thread show how others respected Steven's views and debating skills, and echo how I respected him:
quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: I exchanged views with Steven on politics somewhat often and found him to be tenacious, passionate and informed in his opinions, yet polite in expressing them. It amazes me that he knew so much for one so young.
I will miss him, and I'm so sorry for your loss.
Originally posted by Beren One Hand: NFL and I disagreed on a lot of political issues. However, I never got the sense that he enjoyed arguing for argument's sake. His opinions were always well-reasoned and substantiated with credible facts.
What I love most about the guy is that we could have a heated argument about terrorism in one thread, and then moments later talk like buddies in a fluffier thread discussing computer games or basketball.
NFL was an important part of this community. He will be missed. Originally posted by foundling: Oh, this makes me so sad. I've been around this forum for a long time, in various incantations, and NFL has always been an interesting, articulate contributer to our virtual community.
We had pretty much polar opposite views about anything having to do with politics, and there are times I can remember when in disagreeing with him I allowed my emotions to get the better of me. And he never seemed to. Maybe thats why it was so easy for me to fly off the handle . But even when I was getting all hot and bothered in a debate, I still had to like and respect him. His views were never presented in a nasty, or vitriolic way. He put alot of effort into getting his point across coherently, and you could see the passion of his beliefs underlying everything he said about them. He forced me to look at the opposite spectrum of what I believe and acknowledge some of its worth. I really will miss him. I'm very sorry for your loss, and I hope you take comfort in our memories of your son.
Here's a thread where Steven and I went at it: Armed Robots--take that, terrorists! By the end, Steven had me convinced (almost!) that robots armed with rocket launchers were A Good Thing.
Posts: 6316 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I'm sorry.
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(I'm also from south Florida.)![[Party]](graemlins/party.gif)
I'm sure there is a party in heaven. I will truly, truly miss him.
