From Dedan, on August 22, 2015

I AM IN HOSPICE, but all as well as can be:

After the great outpouring of love and Birthday wishes yesterday, I think it is time that I share what is going on with my long period of silence here on Facebook. I was diagnosed with liver cancer over a year ago. I had extensive surgery and thought that I had recovered but found out last November that it had spread and was now forming tumors along my spine. In the past few months I have been in excruciating pain and rapidly deteriorating. After some discussion, Belvie Rooks, my wife, and I decided that I had reached the stage that I was beyond home care and no one individual was capable to provide the intense and nonstop need that I needed almost 24/7. I checked into a hospice here in San Francisco, Zen Hospice, about two weeks ago.  My care here has been exemplary and I am doing about as well as I can and pain free. It has been such a relief in so many ways.

I just want to take this moment to thank all the wonderful people, both family and friends, many of which I have never met in person for the many birthday greetings. Most of you did not even know I have been sick but expressed so much love and respect for who I am and the work I do in the world. It is my core belief that there is what Stevie Wonder calls “a higher ground” and that is how I strive to live my life. I dropped out of acrimonious debate long ago. I don’t deny that there is a place for that but that is not my place. I have chosen to demonstrate in my little life that there is another way. I only seek to inspire others to at least consider that there are other ways that we can engage each other that lift us all above the quagmire of endless facts about who is right and who is wrong. Yesterday when I read all the wonderful comments from every segment of the human family, I realized in my own small way that we can do better with each other if we sincerely strive to do so. I am not naive, I know that there are many that are beyond inspiration and that is what it is. But there are many that potentially can rise out of our narrowness if prompted in a delicate and authentic way.

I will be closing my Facebook page in the upcoming days. Those of you who are sincerely interested in staying in relationship with me please message me with your info and I will do my best to stay in contact as I ride out the rest of the amazing journey we call life. 

With profound gratitude,
Your Comrade in Kindness, Dedan Gills