I wrote about Miles a few weeks ago under the title “Brevity of Life,”after following his personal CarePage for the past few months. Miles had a rare form of pediatric cancer that he had been fighting, and after exhausting all treatment options, gracefully accepted what was to come. So it was with sadness that I read upon the blog today a note from his family, indicating that he passed away. They write:
This is the update you’ve been dreading: Miles’ earthly body has left us….early this morning. This is the day we’ve been dreading since June of ‘05, and fearing it would come and now it has. We did everything humanly possible to arrest this disease. Our efforts were not enough. There are no interventions currently available that could have produced a different outcome. Hardly a comfort….Talk about destiny, G-d’s plan, purpose, anything you want, but the fact is that our boy, our beloved son and brother, was snatched from us, and it hurts. We knew it was coming, yet we’re shocked. We knew it was coming, yet we’re unprepared. We knew it was coming, yet it feels unreal. We knew it was coming, but we hate it.
I’ve never met Miles, but he still managed to have an impact on me. It is sad when someone dies of ‘old age’, but to die before that feels much more than sad…it’s tragic – like they were pulled from this earth before their time. My thoughts and condolences go out to the family of Miles, the many friends he made in his short but meaningful life, and the many strangers who, like me, found inspiration in his story that he so graciously shared. The family has requested that any who wish to honor Miles do so by making a contribution to the “UJF Miles Levin Fund,” described as a “newly established tax exempt fund designed to support existing efforts to combat pediatric cancer as well as providing our family a vehicle to create new directions in patient care”:
UJF – Miles Alpern Levin Fund
P.O. Box 2030
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303
Attn: Susie Feldman
“Miles Levin, whose blog inspired thousands, dies” – Detroit News, 8/19/07
“Whatever life we get is bonus” – Anderson Cooper 360 blog with Miles Levin as guest columnist, 5/9/07
