|
 News
about Forrest's Diagnosis
Send
Forrest your best wishes
Read
Forrest's Reflections on Cancer
Watch
Forrest deliver his sermon,
Love and Death, at All Souls, Tulsa
Watch Forrest's Palm Sunday sermon,
Love, Death, and Easter.
Watch
Forrest's sermon from Sunday, April 6, Bedside
Manners.
Tuesday,
November 18, 2008
A
note from Forrest:
Dear
Friends,
I'm
happy to report that today I have just received another excellent
CT scan report. The four tumors discovered in my lungs and
liver early last February continue much reduced from their
original mass and no new cancerous activity has been cited.
In short, the chemotherapy regimen I've been following on
a weekly basis over the past ten months continues to perform
its task admirably, first shrinking the tumors and then holding
them at bay. I am enrolled in a trial of the biological agent
Erbitux (the Imclone product), which the FDA is studying for
approval in cases of esophageal cancer. Having well outlasted
the actuarial average for stage 4 esophageal cancer, like
a particularly interesting game of football my life is now
being played out in overtime. If I am typical of this trial's
success, the drug I am receiving will one day (I hope soon)
be available as a promising stopgap for others who find themselves
in similar circumstances.
The cancer
remains, by definition, incurable. It could outwit my treatment
at any time and eventually will. Eventually, however, is one
of those marvelously open-ended words that permits me to entertain
the possibility of a much more extended lease on life than
I had any reason to expect when I received my diagnosis.
Admittedly,
the treatment is, at times, onerous, with a host of unpleasant
side effects (coupled with the danger posed by a reduced immune
system). Having accustomed myself to them, however, none of
these things bothers me very much. I can say, unconscious
of any posturing, that the past year has been as happy as
any I can remember. I look back on my life without nagging
regrets and forward without fear of death. I have accomplished
more than I had any right or reason to expect and made what
feels like a lasting peace with life, my conscience, and God.
Living plump in the lap of the here and now—indulging
a healthy dose of nostalgia for the present—every day,
as it passes, is a good old day.
I couldn't
have done this, any of it, without your love and support.
The outpouring of affection I have experienced since I embarked
on this journey has been remarkable. What a congregation you
are! Even as you took me by the hand thirty years ago and
taught me, step by step, how to be a minister, your embrace
over the past twenty-five months (since my original diagnosis
and the operation to remove my esophagus) has uplifted and
sustained me, making hard times good and flooding my life
with love.
As for
my family and friends, they have risen so far beyond the occasion
that words cannot express my gratitude. In November, 2006,
at the outset of this adventure, I said that I would be the
battlefield and Carolyn the general. She's earned each and
every one of her stars and they light up my sky. Our four
children have each met the frightening challenge of a parent's
looming death, a process that has brought us closer as a family.
And my friends have walked beside me every step of the way.
All of
this could turn on a dime. I know that. All but the love.
Since the one thing that nothing, even death, can take away
is the love we give away before we go, let me close with words
that cannot be repeated too often. I love you,
Saturday,
August 16, 2008
A
note from Galen:
Dear Friends,
I have received the welcome news from Forrest
that his latest CT scan (taken in mid-August) again showed
no tumor growth or new activity, so his cancer continues to
be stable. So far, the chemotherapy treatment is (in Forrest's
words) "keeping the Barbarians at bay." He also
reports that he and Carolyn are eagerly looking forward to
September 23rd, when we will host a thank-you gathering in
Reidy Friendship Hall on Forrest’s 60th birthday (for
those who have contributed to The Forrest Church Fund and/or
indicated a bequest to the church), as well as September 28,
when Forrest will return to the pulpit at 10 and 11:15 a.m.,
followed by a celebration in Reidy Friendship Hall of his
60th birthday and 30th anniversary at All Souls.
Please continue to keep Forrest and his family
in your daily thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Tuesday,
May 8, 2008
A
note from Galen:
Forrest
reports that his latest CT scan shows further shrinkage of
all four tumors: the chemotherapy regime he is on continues
to work and to buy him more time. Although it is not a cure—the
cancer is incurable and terminal—Forrest reports that
happily for now his “medical team is holding the barbarians
at bay.” He is grateful for the gift of time and sends
his love.
Please keep Forrest and his family in your daily thoughts and
prayer.
Love,
Friday,
March 28, 2008
A
note from Forrest:
Dear
Friends,
I
write with good news. A recent CT scan shows that the chemotherapy
regime I am on has proved successful in beating
back the cancer.
All four tumors have shrunk significantly, so we shall continue
with the protocol as long as it continues to work. This,
unfortunately, is an incurable cancer, but remission is possible
for a time
and I appear to have won a few more months for myself, a
gift I welcome with open arms.
I
shall be back in the pulpit on April 6, and look forward to
seeing some of you then.
Lots
of love,
Thursday,
March 6, 2008
A
note from Galen:
Dear
Friends,
This morning I received an update on Forrest’s treatment plan from Carolyn
(her note follows mine), as well as a new message to pass along from Forrest
(which follows Carolyn’s). As you will learn, his chemotherapy is proceeding
apace. Forrest is in blessedly good spirits and looking forward to preaching
on Palm Sunday.
Thanks again for your many expressions of love and concern, and I’ll
keep you informed as I receive more news.
Love,
Thursday,
March 6, 2008
A
note from Carolyn:
Forrest
is enrolled in a Phase 2 clinical trial at Memorial Sloane
Kettering that combines a cocktail of chemotherapies
with a biologic antibody that has proven effective in prolonging
life in different kinds of late stage cancers. This trial has
250 people participating nationwide, and we were lucky that there
is a trial site right in our back yard at MSK where 20 patients
are being similarly treated.
Although
there are many side effects that come with treatment, the doctors
at MSK have been
masterful at treating the side effects
such that Forrest is comfortable most of the time. As you would
expect, Forrest makes lemonade out of any kind of lemon—and
therefore rejoices in the fact that “it could be so much
worse.” He is particularly pleased that he feels well
enough to work on his book, read the bundles of wonderful notes
and
letters, play with the cats, and pass the time happily with
our kids and close friends.
Keep
the prayers and good thoughts coming our way!
Love,
Carolyn
Thursday,
March 6, 2008
A
note from Forrest:
Dear
Friends,
First,
thank you so much for the outpouring of love and support: letters,
books, flowers, cookies, music! I wish I
could thank each of
you personally for your abundant kindness, but please know
how much each memento of love and affection has meant to
me. Indeed, the whole family is lifted on your wings of love.
I'm
faring well, having moved easily into the routine of weekly
chemotherapy and benefiting enormously by the caring
competence
of all the good folks at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital,
where I am receiving my cancer care. As for that book I
promised you,
it's finished! Beacon Press assures me that they'll have
it out by the end of June, which gives me surpassing joy.
I
look forward to seeing many of you on Palm Sunday, when I
shall return to the pulpit. You may end up getting two
Easter
sermons
this year, not just one, but, when it comes right down
to it, there can never be too many Easter sermons.
Carolyn
and the children join me in offering our thanks to one and
all.
We wish you Godspeed and a magnificent
Spring.
Lots
of love,
Sunday,
February 3, 2008
An
update from Galen:
Dear
Friends,
After more than a year of good health, Forrest shared with
us from the pulpit today the devastating news that his cancer
has returned. As part of his sermon (full
text here), he read
his letter to the congregation that will be mailed out tomorrow
(see below).
For nearly three decades, Forrest has labored tirelessly to
help All Souls become a compassionate and vital congregation.
In various ways over the years, he has ministered to each of
us, and to many others besides. His illness gives us a singular
opportunity to minister to him in return.
As before, you may send your best wishes to Forrest using
the link at the top of this page or by sending a card or
letter
to him at the church. I’ll keep you informed with updates
as developments warrant.
Love,
A
letter from Forrest to the congregation of All Souls:
Dear
Friends,
After enjoying a year of fine health, this past Thursday
I learned that my cancer had recurred, having spread
to my lungs and liver. There is no way to sugarcoat
this news. I shall undergo a regimen of chemotherapy,
more for palliative than curative reasons, but must
face the certainty that my cancer is terminal and
the great likelihood that my future will be measured
in months not years.
You
have accompanied me on this journey from its beginning. What
a comfort that has
been. In matters
of mortality, we are all companions (the word means, “those
who break bread together”). From its very beginning,
our repast has been a feast.
In
more than one respect, I feel very lucky. In the fall of 2006,
my family
and I had a dress rehearsal
for the drama we now are entering in earnest. My
wife, Carolyn, and our four children, Frank, Nina,
Jacob and Nathan were able then to begin working
through the complex feelings that always accompany
the loss of a family member, especially a parent.
As for me, I have greeted every day since my reprieve
(and shall greet the days to come) as gravy.
I
won’t
predict how my body will hold up during the course
of treatment, but I can tell you what
I hope to do. Though all of our stories end in the
middle, with unfinished business piled high, I should
like to end my story, if I may, by summing up my
thoughts on love and death in a book that might bring
as much comfort to others as you have brought to
me. In it, I shall share what I have learned from
you during the three decades I have been privileged
to serve as your minister. Time and again, at your
loved ones’ deathbeds and together in my study,
we have struggled to wrench meaning from loss, seeking
to find our way through the valley of the shadow.
Rarely acknowledging to yourselves (or even sensing)
your great courage and remarkable insight, on occasions
such as these you have taught me the lessons of a
lifetime.
Over
the weeks ahead, I shall keep Galen up to date on my progress.
I’ll also post occasional
bulletins from the front on the All Souls website
(Allsoulsnyc.org).
I hope to return to the pulpit on Palm Sunday.
Since
it would be remarkably unimaginative for me to
die at fifty-nine as my father and grandfather
each did before me, I shall do my utmost to make
it to September, when, after rejoicing in my daughter’s
wedding, I shall celebrate both my sixtieth birthday
and the completion of thirty years at All Souls.
In
the meantime, know that my thoughts and prayers
are with you.
With lots of love,
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