Derek Miller, a 41-year-old B.C. man, died from cancer. His last words, published by his family after his death, have gone viral
It's not the kind of blog post you read every day. Derek Miller's blog entry for May 4 begins: "Here it is. I'm dead, and this is my last post to my blog."
After the 41-year-old Vancouver blogger died of complications from stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer, a friend posted the final entry to his longstanding blog.
The post has gone viral and been viewed by upwards of 8-million people and has repeatedly crashed the site, according to a Canadian Press report.
The post weaves the story of his life and how he met his wife with philosophical musings about how strange it is not to know what will become of his family - and the world after he's gone. He writes that he doesn't believe in an afterlife:
"So I was unafraid of death-of the moment itself-and of what came afterwards, which was (and is) nothing. As I did all along, I remained somewhat afraid of the process of dying, of increasing weakness and fatigue, of pain, of becoming less and less of myself as I got there. I was lucky that my mental faculties were mostly unaffected over the months and years before the end, and there was no sign of cancer in my brain-as far as I or anyone else knew."
The post ends with a note to his daughters, and to his wife, Airdrie Miller: "I loved you deeply, I loved you, I loved you, I loved you."
Mr. Miller had maintained the blog for a decade. A writer and editor with a degree in marine biology, Mr. Miller was also wrote about music, photography and pop culture.
As the Canadian Press noted, "Talk of his obsession with Diet Cherry Coke and the joy of Easter celebrations is sandwiched between open discussion of his need for adult diapers, the loss of his voice and the realization that death is looming."
Airdire Miller told the Canadian Press that the attention her husband's last post is causing "pretty overwhelming."
"He would love this. He's a bit of a ham and he would love the attention."
Once you've dabbed the tears away, readers, answer this: Would you like to write a good-bye note in these circumstances? Do you think we'll be seeing more of this?