My dear Friends:

Rome and cancer. This coincidence is too eerie for me!

While reading defreitas' post and that of Jeff just a few minutes ago, I received a long distance call from my daughter at the Rome Center, a branch of Loyola University-Chicago in Italy, where she is on a study grant together with her close friend and roommate from Seattle. They are both sophomores.

She informed me that her friend's mother, Mrs. Hartwell, whom my wife and I met two years ago at Loyola during the freshmen orientation of our respective children, was in a Seattle hospital for 4 days now and diagnosed with terminal cancer(any day up to a maximum of 6 months)!

About a year ago, Mrs. Hartwell was hospitalized for the same reason but she was told that her cancer was in remission. Last spring break, my daughter visited with them in Seattle for one week and saw for herself that Mrs. Hartwell was hale and hearty. She is only in her late forties.

I heard faintly my daughter and her friend crying over the phone as we talked. Her friend's belongings are all packed ready to go to the airport for the first flight back to Seattle (in about 8 hours from now), after only 12 days in Rome. Her friend, after guidance from their campus Chaplain, has decided to forego the study grant and the entire semester and be with her mother's side.

I am fervently requesting your prayers for Mrs. Hartwell to be granted a second chance and for her distraught daughter, so young, to have the strength and the courage to accept God's will.

The Hartwells are (Roman) Catholic.

(Please include my daughter in your prayers so that she may also have the courage to continue without her close friend and roommate.)

Thank you in advance.

Amado

How sad for all those involved .

My prayers are offered for the Hartwells that they will be able to accept the will of God.

For their daughter that she will be given consolation and strength to cope with this new trial

For your daughter that she will be able to cope with her sadness about her friend's Mother , and still be able to study and profit from her time in the wonderful City that is Rome

Anhelyna

Sanctus Peregrinus, ora pro nobis!

Alex

May the Hartwells be granted the strength to bear their anguish. May they be sustained by the love among them that is so evident in the daughter's decision to be present with her mother. May God grant healing in this situation.

May your daughter be consoled at her friends trouble and withdrawal from the study. May the Spirit guide and protect her and lead her to knowledge and to wisdom.

Steve

May the Lord, in His mercy, come to the aid of his cancer-stricken servant and grant healing.

And may His mercy come to the young women who are so hurt by this disease. May they find peace and solace when the disease is thwarted and defeated. And may they realize the wonderful blessing of loving friendship to help all of those who are impacted by this horrendous disease.

Blessings!

My heartfelt prayers are with all of them. May God bring them peace and comfort through this difficult situation.

Dear Friends:

It was only last January 25th that I fervently requested your prayers for the cancer-stricken mother of my daughter's close friend and roommate at Loyola's Rome Center in Italy.

Last night, we received the sad news that Mrs. Hartwell had passed away.

Her family was just hoping for the 6-month window of survival, which bestowed at least a feeling of optimism. But she succumbed to the ravages of cancer barely over 2 weeks after her prognosis was determined.

If it could be a solace to our daughter's friend, she was at her mother's side all through those days, forsaking her study grant at Rome.

My wife and I burned the phone with our daughter in Rome thereafter to assuage the anguish of her loneliness and of her inability to be with her friend in the latter's hour of bereavement.

Please include Mrs. Hartwell in your prayers for the eternal repose of her soul and her family who must now bear this tragic turn of events.

May she rest in peace.

AmdG

May the Angels lead her into Paradise.

May her soul, and the souls of the faithful departed , through the Mercy of God, rest in Peace.

Her earthly suffering is ended, but not yet that of her family and friends.

May they receive comfort

May the Holy Mother intercede for this mother and her husband and child. May she find joy in the Presence of God and may He grant that they come to find consolation in her joy.

Steve