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.
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.
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.)
Everyone should have a day this perfect in their lives. Carnegie Mellon flew Jai and me up to Pittsburgh to attend graduation. I had the honor of giving the charge to the graduates at the end of the ceremony. Even the weather cooperated to make it a perfect day with the sun breaking through the rain clouds as the ceremony started. I also got to speak briefly to the SCS and ETC commencement ceremonies. It was wonderful to see all of our old friends and colleagues and I was very touched by the invitation.
My three minute address and dramatic ending —————->
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.
May 2nd, 2008: Cancer spreads
Yesterday’s PET scan showed that I have very tiny (5mm or less) metastases in my lungs and some lymph nodes in my chest. I also have some metastases in my peritoneum and retroperitoneum cavities (basically, inside my abdomen).
This is unfortunate, but we knew it would happen sooner or later, and we’ve been able to stave it off much longer than anticipated, so I’m very grateful for that.
My current strategy is to continue to recover from the heart and kidney failure, and once I’m strong enough, then we’ll either do the SIR-Spheres or some systemic chemo, depending on the relative growth of the liver and non-liver tumors.
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.
This amazing video with Dr. Randy Pausch is a moving live story told to Diane Sawyer. I loved the message he is conveying to people and a legacy he is leaving his children, as a blueprint to live by. We can all learn from Dr. Pausch and his valuable life lessons he so graciously shares.
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