Update Blog

The following is a letter that we wrote to Nick just after he had “successfully” completed another round of chemo in 2015.   I clearly had a sneaky suspicion that this would not be the end of his treatment, the only difference is that I never foresaw that not only would he undergo more of this shit, but that three years later he would succumb to this disease.   Nonetheless, all the words in the letter still hold true. The jury is still out on my opinion about God. Matt continues to flounder in terms of faith, needless to say. May 5, 2015 Dear Nick, Here it is, the eve of your twentieth birthday, and I have so much to say I don’t even know where to begin.  I know what I can give you; you’ve already gotten a car, the trip to Montebello (when Mike pays up), a nice dinner and, potentially, another house show party, but these are just things and you’ve already gotten a lot of things and parties and experiences in your relatively short life-time.   I ...

We just wanted to send out a reminder (via this blog, and other media) that we're having a small, quiet gathering on May 4th @ 7:00 pm in honour of Nick's 24th birthday. We're not out to have another crazy party - no bands, no mosh pit, no heavy drinking, and hopefully no Nazis !

6 months On this day, six months ago, Nick passed away.   About two weeks later, Matthew and I had to confront the horrific reality of retrieving his stuff from his room in Etobicoke.   Thankfully, Nick’s landlords were wonderful and refunded all of our rent money and even allowed us to return to this room in our own time.   Entering the tiny confines of his space was beyond brutal.   Nick had only moved in there 6 weeks prior, so full of hope for the future and so looking forward to   starting his life, studying at the school and achieving much needed independence from his parents.   Within two short weeks, he made   many friends and clearly relished this opportunity.   Underneath, however, the reality was quite different.   Out of a desire to protect us, Nick did not disclose the fact that he was still experiencing seizures and coughing up blood.   When we arrived on that horrible day in October to collect his belongings, we ...

Straight Outta Humber: https://humberetc.ca/scholarship-created-in-wake-of-humber-students-passing/ Our thanks to Nick's friend (and Humber journalism student) Rachel Taylor for this one.

Vincent, as well as our friend (and Nick's old band-mate) Craig Gignac, have recorded a new version of Nick's song You, Me & Labatt Blue. Now if we can just get Labatt to pay us for this, we'd be able to send a lot of kids to Humber.😀.🐠

“Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot.”   Allan Jay Lerner’s lines from Camelot certainly capture the bittersweet reality of our lives now – where there was once so much joy, there is now so much tragedy and heartbreak that is made all the more poignant by the memory of that previous life, that “one brief shining moment” that is now permanently in the past, a past which is receding more and more everyday as it is overtaken by the gloom of our present and future lives.   There is no feeling of closure and I can’t imagine there ever will be. What is worse?   Having had joy and then having it snatched away leaving you with the painful memories of what was or never having had joy at all and not knowing the pain of what was or could have been?   I want to think that it was better to have had that joy, but the sharpness of the pain produced by its absence sometimes makes me think otherwise.  ...