I had no outlet for my grief after my father passed. All I knew was that I needed to honor his fight, his bravery, in some endearing fashion. I could not bear the thought that after everything he had gone through battling pancreatic cancer, then suddenly that was it. To believe his life ended that …
It was a gut-wrenching decision for me to make. My good friend Chris listened patiently on the phone; I had called him when my father was released from the hospital and into hospice. For some time I’d been agonizing over writing a eulogy for my father. The thought of it haunted me every day. I …
My dad loved the ocean. I think it was one of the few things, if not the only thing, that brought him true peace. He used to be an avid scuba diver and explored many of the shipwrecks littering the bottom of the sea around New Jersey and New York. He gave up his flippers, …
At first, the chemo worked. At least it seemed to work. We didn’t know what to expect. My dad was holding up pretty well. His spirits were high, and his attitude belied the fact he was a sick man. “When you see me panic, then you know it’s time for you to panic,” he once …
The worry was obvious in my mother’s voice but there was something else, too, something I didn’t care for one bit. “They’ve found tumors all through your father’s liver,” she told me over the phone. The defeat in her tone was thick. I refused to acknowledge it. Even without knowing exactly what was going on …
“Christ, you look like shit.” Those were my exact words over seven years ago when my dad arrived early on a Sunday morning to help renovate my basement. And he really did look like shit. His face was white as a ghost. “I’m fine,” my dad replied, “just must’ve eaten something funny last night.” If …
November 1 means a great deal to me. It marks All Saints Day in honor of all the saints, known and unknown. On November 1, 1966, my favorite football team came into existence – the New Orleans Saints. It also marks the arrival of another saint to be. On November 1, 1946, Joseph C. Pinto …
I could easily give you the statistics about pancreatic cancer. Face value, they’re pretty grim. For all stages of pancreatic cancer, the five-year survival rate falls between 5 and 6%. There is still no early testing… and no cure, unless you’re among the less than 20% eligible for surgery to have it removed only in …
Hello all! I’m very excited to announce the launch of my new website, PURPLE HOPE. I lost my father to pancreatic cancer in 2007, and since then I’ve done my best to create positivity and awareness in the fight against pancreatic cancer. PURPLE HOPE is a place where you can share your personal stories and …
I’ve been asked by many people to separate the fact from fiction in my novella Dusk and Summer. While I cannot reveal all my tricks to its telling, I will say that, as a tribute to my father, I took many elements of his life and seamlessly incorporated them into the story. I will offer …
Joseph A. Pinto 