If you've been watching the news, you'll know that Don LaFontaine, the man known for the cliche "In a world..." has died.
He was 68. Variously known as "The Voice of God," and "Thunder Throat," Mr LaFontaine died due to complications from pneumothorax. He is survived by his wife and three children.
He did many commercials and many trailers for movies. He also did the opening narration for Amerca's Most Wanted. I think my all-time favourite GEICO commercial was the one with him (Honestly.) I'm ashamed to admit it, but until that point, I'd never known his name. I recognized the voice instantly, but I'd never known his name. He even parodied himself!
"When the storm hit, both our cars were totally under water."
"In a world where both our cars were totally under water."
And then to learn that he died. I couldn't believe it.
But that brings up something else that, when I read about it, hurt. It hurt deeply.
I first read about Dr Randy Pausch on Michelle Malkin's site. I downloaded and watched The Last Lecture, followed by his lecture on Time Management. I watched his testimony before a Congre$$ional Committe about aditional funding for pancreatic cancer research.
"But I want you to understand that pancreatic cancer is one of those unusual diseases. The statistics are pretty clear.
If you get it, you're dead within a year with a 75 per cent chance. When you talk about survival, four per cent of people make it to five years.
When I presented first with symptoms, we thought I had hepatitis. When we got the diagnosis, my wife [Jai (pronounced Jay)] said 'Gee, I guess you'd trade for hepatitis.' And I said 'Honey, I'd trade for AIDS.' "
And then, the part of his testimony that really shook me when I saw his face.
"Part of my job is to put a face on the disease [pancreatic cancer]. At the risk of being a little bit overly dramatic, I want to show you a picture. This is my family.
This is Dylan. He's six years old. He loves dinosaurs.
This is Logan. He's four. He's 'Super Logan.' He has a cape, he runs around the house, saving everyone.
This is Chloe. In May [2008], she turns two.
And this is my widow.
That's not a grammatical construction you get to use everyday. But there's not many diseases where you know it'll be fatal. And I have metastasized* to the liver and spleen, which means that I have a 100 per cent chance of dying, and there isn't anybody in the medical community who won't bet that I won't be dead by the end of the year.
And this woman is gonna raise these three children by herself, very bravely, because I won't be there to help her."
When I heard that he'd died, part of me was left wondering. Why him? "Only the good die young," and he died at 47.
And he thought he'd done everything right. He didn't smoke, didn't drink, he tried to eat right and he exercised. But he still got it. Why him?
Why?
I'd never met him in person, never spoken with him, had only learned about him on Michelle Malkin's site in October of 2007. Yet, when he died, part of me felt empty.
I'd been watching his site (http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html) for quite a while after learning about him. I read about the ups and downs, the setbacks, and the joy of his living to see Christmas [2007] and spend it with his family.
And then came the post of 26-JUN-2008. His tumour marker was now 1,400. Seeing that number skyrocket meant that he was in deep trouble. Those of us watching his site already knew that, but to see that number so high meant that the end was near.
And then no more posts until 24-JUL-2008. At that point, given the message of the post, I thought to myself 'This is it, then.'
He died the next day.
It's taken me this long to be able to write about it. The world is a lesser place without him.
Rest in peace, Randy
* - Metastasized: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metastasized
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