Sad news came through this afternoon. One of my best friends from school, Sim, has died a couple of days ago after a long battle of cancer.
At school, Sim was a keen footballer with two passions, his beloved Arsenal and the Brazilian football side. In his yearbook entry, he even joked that he would have a great chance of becoming a Brazilian footballer.
But soon after leaving school, he was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare type of tumour that when found is usually found in young people around the age of 20. Sadly, Sim had been diagnosed with it, a tumour in his spine.
Over time, Sim battled hard against the cancer. In fact, he had been battling cancer for about a decade, in that time, twice it was thought he was in remission, twice he fought back. But earlier this year, the bleak news came that the cancer had returned, this time, the prognosis was not good.
Despite the fact that cancer had taken away his mobility, despite the pain that he felt on most days, he was often in good mood when we saw him. He never complained of his bad luck, never wanting to impose his condition on others. One time, when a group of us went to dinner one weekend, Sim was in his crutches as usual, when one of the waitresses asked if he had broken his leg. In typical Sim fashion, he replied, "If only," but went on to joke with the waitress, but without disclosing he had cancer.
Sim was always the cynic, but also had a wicked sense of humour to back it up. Although he might sound crass, it was often only for humour purposes (although if he heard me say that, he would have said no). But whatever his inner intent, Sim later started to write a blog in order to make sure we were keeping count of his marbles. Writing under the pseudonym of Socrates, he began inflicting his humour on the world.
As his brother, Ben says in the blog’s final post, he never lost his marbles, and only on Saturday did he go and watch Arsenal play Watford at their new Emirates Stadium. It’s all the more shocking that he’s gone, since I even had an e-mail from him last week.
But all that said, it’s been a long time coming, and in many ways, we’re glad that he is no longer in pain. But he will be sorely missed by everyone. Sim, it’s been an honour.
Sim died on Monday aged 27.
(1979-2006)