Ryan’s Last Letter — My Grey Matters

After a 17 month battle with Glioblastomas (brain cancer), Ryan passed away at home on October 23rd, just 4 weeks after his 41st birthday (and just 4 weeks after learning his life-long dream of becoming a published children’s book author and illustrator came true). On Friday, November 3rd, hundreds of friends and family gathered at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in State College, PA to celebrate Ryan’s life. We were so blessed to work with Father George, who was willing to allow us to make the funeral specific to Ryan, including playing his favorite music, having a gallery of his work throughout the church, and having 7 different friends and family eulogize him. Even though it is not traditional for the wife of the deceased to speak at the funeral, I wanted to read a letter Ryan had written, since I found it so heartbreaking that Ryan had been robbed of his ability to communicate for the last few months of his life. Here is what I said: “We are all here today to grieve the

After a 17 month battle with Glioblastomas (brain cancer), Ryan passed away at home on October 23rd, just 4 weeks after his 41st birthday (and just 4 weeks after learning his life-long dream of becoming a published children’s book author and illustrator came true). On Friday, November 3rd, hundreds of friends and family gathered at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in State College, PA to celebrate Ryan’s life. We were so blessed to work with Father George, who was willing to allow us to make the funeral specific to Ryan, including playing his favorite music, having a gallery of his work thr