Re author Vonda N McIntyre.
Very unhappily, Kate Schaefer informs us:
Vonda spent much of Seattle's snow week at Swedish Hospital with jaundice and some vertigo, having many tests. The test results are in now, and the news is not good. The diagnosis is inoperable metastatic pancreatic cancer. Her doctor said it isn't stupid to hope for a year, but it could be less. She'll probably be getting treatment that may or may not slow things down, no way to know for sure.
Vonda is at home. For the time being, Vonda would prefer not to get emails or phone calls about her health. She's resting a lot, and has a good bit of work to do.
Eileen Gunn has agreed to take point on answering questions.
Jane Hawkins is trying to organize people who want to assist Vonda, or who just want to visit a while. For now, Vonda doesn't need a lot of help -- rides to various medical encounters, meals, laundry, and so on. If you want to assist, please shoot Jane an email describing what might work for you. If you want to visit, please go through Jane to get it scheduled.
---[END of Kate's message------
For myself, I'll note that I've known and adored Vonda for decades and my first instinct is to ferry across the Sound to be with her a while, whatever good that could do. But I respect her desire for privacy, and perhaps on my own I'll just listen to Neil Young singing Helpless. So many people love Vonda, who live near her, I think volunteers will be numerous through Jane.
Life and death are woeful things. All we can do is try to be the best versions of ourselves we can be, and strive to get the most happiness we can, and share the most compassion, during our brief existence. By this measure Vonda's life of creativity and kindness has been a wild success.
Energy, science tells us, cannot be created or destroyed; the spark that once gave us life merely transforms and is still in the universe, as even the dust of us begins its billions-year journey back into the stars.
