New letter from Dave

Dave emailed me yesterday with a new message, so here it is:

"Dear Gang,

While I rest at home and attempt to stabilize my treatments, I see that you all have been busy. Words cannot express how I feel from the cards, emails, and telephone calls. While I try to maintain an image of a hard ass, the outpouring of your concern for me is overwhelming. I don't know what to say or how to react to it. All I can say is 'Thank you for what you do' and I am so very humbled by it all.

I realize that my sickness has caused some disconnects. Life is full of disconnects. How we deal with them makes us strong. Much of what I did on a day to day basis is now being done by others. Those folks are giving you the best and I trust that we will all get through this. I talk to Valerie Thomas every day and she is doing a great job, but she needs your help and understanding. Life is filled with "bumps in the road" and this is one of them.

I have it on good authority (the doctors) that I can recover from this and lead a pretty much normal life. (a better life through chemistry) What the hell, it is just another pill to take. Anyway, I will be with you during the benefit and graduation. I am not sure how active I will be during it all, but I want to deal at the final table.

I have every intention of returning to teaching next fall, maybe a bit thinner, but as I understand it, "thin is in." I now know a great way of losing weight, but you may not want to try it.

Thank you for support to me and my family during this time. We are strengthened by your prayers.

Dave Marquith"