Randy Pausch Dies Today of Pancreatic Cancer

Randy Pausch was 47 years young.  His courageous passing will be felt by people across the world.  What an amazing man, what an amazing family.  Randy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006, being told he had 3 to 6 months to live.  He made every day count.

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University is legendary - worldwide.  The video of The Last Lecture has been viewed by over 10 million people, and translated into 7 languages. This year after appearing on Oprah, Diane Sawyer, and many other interviews, a best selling book “The Last Lecture”, testifying before Congress in regards to Pancreatic Cancer, Randy has passed leaving us all feeling so blessed to have witnessed such Courage and Love.

In the news from The University of Virginia was a quote by Gabe Robins, professor of computer science at U.Va., has described Pausch as the perfect mentor - a combination of Yoda, Captain James T.Kirk, and Jim Carrey.

Randy was such an inspiration to me as a young faculty member and he became a good friend over the years,” said Robins. “The media portrayed this man exactly as he was — bright, honest and sincere. I feel lucky to count him among my friends and mentors.  It is very rare to find a person that combines greatness, grace, and courage the way Randy does. I’m so glad that, through his lecture videos and recent book, the rest of the world got to know him too. Randy’s legacy will continue to inspire people for a long, long time to come.

Living in Courage sends love and condolences to Randy’s family - Jai, Dylan, Logan and Chloe.

I would like to thank everyone who left comments over the months here at Living in Courage for Randy and his family and those who continue to do so.  We all hold a very special place in our hearts for a very courageous man and his wonderful family.

Posted in Courage, Heroes, Science & Technology | 7 Comments »

Randy Pausch Update

Here is the weekly update on Randy Pausch. We send you and your family love Randy. So many people visit this site and leave comments for Randy and his family. I would like to thank all the people who leave comments and stories about their lives and challenges. Randy Pausch gives courage and hope to people all over the world as he puts a different face on life’s hardships, encouraging everyone to live life to the fullest. Our heart are with you Randy.

June 26th, 2008: Slow, but continued recovery

I continue to slowly recover. Chemotherapy has a cumulative effect, so it takes longer to recover the deeper one gets into this. Our current thinking is that more chemotherapy may not be wise; at this point, almost all potential chemotherapies may potentially make me so weak/sick that even if they were to slow the tumor, it would not be clear it would be the right tradeoff. We are currently narrowing down some immunuotherapy-based apporaches that would presumably come with little or no side effects. More news as that proceeds.

Today’s box score:

Creatanine (kidney function): 2.2

CA19-9 (tumor marker): 1400

Blood Pressure: 120 / 70

Weight: 142

Posted in Courage, Heroes | 8 Comments »

Randy Pauch Update - Letter from President Bush

For more videos and past updates on Randy Pausch, go to the Heroes or Courage section of this website.

June 10th, 2008: A Letter from President Bush
	While I don’t have any way of validating it authenticity, nor do I have an particular reson to do doubt it - this arrived recently (click on letter for larger, readable image.)

Posted in Courage, Heroes | No Comments »

Randy Pauch Post and Update

May 10th, 2008: Vroom!
	For Mother’s Day, we managed to arrange to have Jai get away for a night in a local hotel, where she was able to sleep in until 9am; a truly rare treat for a mother of three little kids! We also took a spin in a “kit car” of a 1965 Shelby Cobra.

Posted in Courage, Heroes | 55 Comments »

Randy Pausch Update

I want to keep you informed about Randy Pausch. Randy Pausch is Courage in action, as is his amazing family. Thank you Randy for teaching us so much about life, love, family and facing life’s greatest challenges.  You are a true hero.

Posted in Courage, Heroes | No Comments »

Randy Pausch Goes To Congress

Randy Pausch went to Congress to use his new found unintended celebrity that he received through the lecture at Carnegie Mellon University to speak on behalf of Pancreatic cancer. Randy urged Congress to provide funding for research to eradicate this most lethal cancer.

Posted in Inspirational Videos | 1 Comment »

The Amazing Last Lecture of Randy Pausch

Dr. Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Last September (2007) he gave his last lecture. This is a tradition among College Professors - giving your last lecture as though you were dying.The rub is, Dr Randy Pausch, is in all likelihood dying. He is battling pancreatic cancer. Diagnosed with the cancer on August 15, 2007 and given 3-6 months to live, today he is still going. Here is what he wrote on his own blog on February 15, 2008:

Feb 15: Six months later …. and still alive & healthy Today is a pretty important day. It was August 15th, 2007, when I was told I likely had “three to six months of good health left.”Today is six months from that day. Just to prove I’m still alive, here I am, holding today’s New York Times! I rode my bike today; the cumulative effects of the chemotherapy are hurting my stamina some, but I bet I can still run a quarter mile faster than most Americans.The doctors weren’t wrong; they always said that if the palliative chemo worked, I’d buy more time, but that it was a long shot. And the doctors have done a brilliant job of tweaking my regimen to help my odds. How much longer this will work is hard to know, but I’m going to keep having fun every day I have left, no matter how many or how few of them I get.

This is Randy on Oprah giving an abridged version of his “last lecture”. This is what we mean when we say courage.Read Randy’s blog here

Posted in Courage | No Comments »