In 2012, Vicki was diagnosed with an aggressive form of vulvar cancer. No one in the family expected how quickly everything would change.
Her oncologist explained that vulvar cancers don’t usually migrate above the midline of the body, however, hers spread rapidly and unexpectedly to other areas of her body.
“It was an aggressive cancer,” Kirk recalled. “It moved from being localized to systematic and metastasizing. It was only about a year between her diagnosis and her passing.”
Learning to cope with the sudden loss of such a prominent figure in his life was extremely difficult and now, thirteen years later, that grief hasn’t gone away.
“The way I always describe it to people is the grief is still there and it’s always going to be there,” Kirk said. “But the edges aren’t as sharp.”
This year, as Kirk turns the same age as his sister when she passed – 54 – that perspective feels especially powerful.