Disney executive dead at 41 from cancer

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Fermion

Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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https://tv.yahoo.com/news/elizabeth-kaltman-disney-studios-pr-053207799.html

Sad. Cancer terrifies me at age 44 and yet I spend a lot of time worrying about if I will have enough money when I am 85.

I know everyone on here tries to control their finances to a great degree and maybe it is because we have so little control over things like cancer.

Really need to think if that OMY is necessary or if you should get on with your dreams before they are taken away unexpectedly.
 
That's one of those random events one just cannot plan for other than living a healthy lifestyle. In our old neighborhood one of the neighbor's grown children died from it. He was 21.
 
Pointless to worry about it. I learned that lesson when I was 12 years old.
A good friend's older brother was big, handsome, and a star athlete, as well as being a great guy and liked by everyone.
In his second year of high school, he was playing intramural basketball in the gym one afternoon after class. At one point, he stopped playing and walked out to the hall and sat down on a bench. He never got up again. Massive heart attack.

We simply don't know when our time will be up, except for my uncle, who was told the exact date by the judge ;) so why let it disturb your sleep?
 
There was recent study (I heard about on the PBS Newshour, so don't have a link) that should that about 2/3 of cancers result from nothing other than random bad luck. Luck was much more important than genetic or life style. Although things like smoking still cause the bulk of lung cancer deaths and genetics was very important in some cancers.
 
When I was still working f.t. I used to say that I was really going to be pissed if I died before I retired. It always made people laugh.
 
Probably best to live your life and not to worry too much about cancer making you the wealthiest guy in the cemetery.
 
DFW_M5 said:
Probably best to live your life and not to worry too much about cancer making you the wealthiest guy in the cemetery.
Click to expand...
'

+1
Compltely agree. Also see this: Death rates from cancer in the US continue to drop - Medical News Today

Death from cancer has dropped 22% since 1991, but is still an issue. Notice the article mentions the link between cancer and lifestyle issues such as obesity, smoking and cancer. From the article:

"[Cancer] is already the leading cause of death among adults aged 40 to 79 and is expected to overtake heart disease as the leading cause of death among all Americans within the next several years.

"The change may be inevitable, but we can still lessen cancer's deadly impact by making sure as many Americans as possible have access to the best tools to prevent, detect, and treat cancer."
Click to expand...
 
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clifp said:
There was recent study (I heard about on the PBS Newshour, so don't have a link) that should that about 2/3 of cancers result from nothing other than random bad luck. Luck was much more important than genetic or life style. Although things like smoking still cause the bulk of lung cancer deaths and genetics was very important in some cancers.
Click to expand...

I recall that also, it was a John Hopkins study, Bad Luck of Random Mutations Plays Predominant Role in Cancer, Study Shows - 01/01/2015

A random bad mutation in one your cell divisions....
 
I am 58 years old. I know I will die from my Multiple Myeloma (MM) cancer sooner, rather than later. I have had MM for more than 5 years. The average lifespan for someone diagnosed with MM is 48 months. Even with all my various cancer treatments and their side effects, my wife and I continue to live and save as we always have. I want to leave my wife with ample funds for her retirement, and we both would like to eventually leave our son a large inheritance. We certainly do not want to burden him with taking care of his mother later in her life. We have also saved quite a bit in our son's 529 college fund, and continue to add $500 every month. We want him to be able to graduate with zero debt.

The one thing I am hoping to accomplish before I check out is to help steer our son into a good engineering college, like Cal Poly SLO or UC Berkeley. Even though he is only 13, he has shown good engineering aptitude, and has said he wants to study to be some sort of engineer in college. My wife and I are both mechanical engineers who work in the aerospace industry. We enjoy what we do.

Life, whether it's long or short, is what you make of it. I continue to be the best husband and father that I can be under our current circumstances.

I should also mention that we have great health and disability insurance through work. All my cancer treatments have hardly cost us anything. We also have a $200k term life insurance policy through work. On top of that, I took out a 25 year $500k term life insurance policy when our son was born that we continue to keep current.
 
Tortoise, I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis and I wish you and your family the best of times for the time you have left.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
 
Tortoise. My dad had MM. I hope your treatments allow you to see your son go to college and fulfill his dreams.
 
Tortoise, My DW's uncle lived with MM for more than 15 years, so hopefully you are one those who are outside the stats the Drs quote.
 
Statistics are improving, and just this week, a new breakthrough. Thankfully, a diagnosis isn't always correct, or accurate as far as longevity is concerned.

This government site has statistics on the different types of cancer.

Cancer of the Colon and Rectum - SEER Stat Fact Sheets

As a survivor, (colon cancer and sigmoid section in 1989) it was interesting to see how the survival rate has improved.

The MM pages have statistics covering the success rates of many different drugs and clinical tests.

NCI Search Results - National Cancer Institute Enter the type of cancer.

Tortoise... wish you the best... Always the other side of "odds"... for me, 64% survival for 5 years... Already beaten that by 20 years. Keep that positive attitude!
 
Tortoise, it's very sad that you drew this card. Push back and do your best to enjoy life, as you may get further down the road than the docs tell you.

Fermion, get on the bike or sled and shake off the clouds, for pete's sake. Fourties? Are you nuts? :D
 
clifp said:
There was recent study (I heard about on the PBS Newshour, so don't have a link) that should that about 2/3 of cancers result from nothing other than random bad luck. Luck was much more important than genetic or life style. Although things like smoking still cause the bulk of lung cancer deaths and genetics was very important in some cancers.
Click to expand...

Heard about the same study. I found the conclusion quite surprising. But I guess that's why one person could be a smoker all his life and not have cancer whereas someone else lives a much cleaner life but come down with cancer.
 
Tortoise, I have a friend who is entering his 7th year with MM. He like you has had many difficult treatments, but usually looks and feels good I am sure you give thanks for your steadfast wife frequently. My friend also has a diamond of a wife who makes his life joyful and sooths the rough spots. His sons grew up with his help, and helped him too. The oldest started at SF State last fall, and he felt joyful about this.

Ha
 
Fermion said:
.... Sad. Cancer terrifies me at age 44 and yet I spend a lot of time worrying about if I will have enough money when I am 85. ...
Click to expand...

I just heard the other day from my old boss that one of the partners who I worked with died after a 15 month battle with cancer at age 57, leaving a wife and two teenage kids. Good guy who will be missed.

Both FIL and MIL and my Dad all had cancer, as have many friends. Scary.
 
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Wow! Thank you all for your kind words. I didn't mean to hijack the thread with my story of woe. I hope that this thread points out the importance of having the correct insurance, especially health and term life if others are counting on your income/nest egg.

It makes me happy to know that my family will be financially OK because we had good insurance for health, disability, and term life prior to my cancer diagnosis. I always shake my head in disbelief when I read about someone who can afford it saying that they don't want to waste money paying for health insurance because they are healthy. I was very healthy before I got cancer, too. As others pointed out, many cancers, including mine, are mostly bad luck for which no one knows the cause.

As far as everyone's well wishes about me beating the odds and living for a long time with Multiple Myeloma, I unfortunately have an "aggressive" form of the cancer that not only forms in my bone marrow, but also forms tumors away from the bone. I am also very allergic to one of the main lines of drugs used to combat MM. These include Pomalyst, Revlimid, and Thalomid. I currently bounce from chemo drugs that have pretty bad side effects, to radiation therapy. The radiation gets rid of tumors that are just under the skin, and gives my body time to heal from the chemo drugs.

Anyway, thank you again for all the kind words. They mean a lot to me. And please, if you are under-insured, or know someone who is, take heed of the recent "Cancer is Mostly Bad Luck" study. We are all mortal, and stuff happens.
 
clifp said:
There was recent study (I heard about on the PBS Newshour, so don't have a link) that should that about 2/3 of cancers result from nothing other than random bad luck. Luck was much more important than genetic or life style. Although things like smoking still cause the bulk of lung cancer deaths and genetics was very important in some cancers.
Click to expand...
This may be true, but think how difficult it would be to plan a definitive study that showed this. Maybe some environmental factor speeds up the process of mutation in some organs. Then that old devil random chance has more opportunity roll snake eyes.

I've been told, "oh nothing you can do about this or that". But sometimes there is, and I want to give it a shot. Years ago a doctor told me I had pre-diabetes, and that I would necessarily progress to diabetes, then worse and worse health.

He was full of crap then, and that kind of thinking is always full of crap. My belief is that if a person is wiling to learn, and sometimes make radical alterations to usual practice, very little is foreordained.

Ha
 
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