I am very sorry to report that Sally Widman died last night. Her cousin, Anne, sent me a message on Facebook today. She posted here for the last several years and has attended a few of our Gatherings.

She had a wonderful spirit, great courage in the face of hardship and was very witty and kind. I will miss her.

My deepest sympathies to her family and loved ones. I invited her to the chat just last Saturday and received a short email that she was feeling too tired to join. I shall miss her.

I, too, am very sorry to learn this. My sympathy to her friends and family.

I am heavy-hearted to hear this. Condolences to her family. I know we'll all miss her.

Very sorry to hear this. Please pass on my sympathies.

I'm so sorry. I will miss her.

I am so sorry to hear the sad news. I knew that she hadn't been well for some time but had no idea of the seriousness.

She will certainly be missed here. My sympathy to her friends and family.

I'll make this a 'sticky' post so that it appears at the top of the list and is less likely to be overlooked by members.

A tribute blog to Sally.

Oh, I am just stunned. Sally and I have been emailing back and forth, and her last email to me was on June 14th. She said she didn't always have the energy to reply to me so when she didn't email me back, I just thought she was too weak. I knew her counts were low, but that is not unusual, given her chemotherapy for MDS.

In a recent email, I told her I thought she had a good attitude so in jest she'd sign her emails "Pollyanna." She was happy to inform me on June 5th that she used my favorite word on her cousin's facebook page. Heck, she has been posting here like mad lately.

I have been traveling and off my computer for a few days and completely missed this. I'll have to go to her blog, but I wish I could do more. Her husband sounded like a darling, and he must be devastated. Ugh.

Thanks, CW, for letting us know. I don't watch Facebook as much as I should.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

I just checked my old emails from Sally, and she found out about the MDS on February 4th, 2012, so it hasn't been that long at all. At the time she said it was an intermediate grade of 1, which they told her was the second lowest risk. It is just so sad to read her old emails. She was quite optimistic and couldn't wait until the chemo brought her bone marrow back to normal.

I found this article about her online. I will miss her here on WC and her emails. It has been quite a shock. From everything she told me, I thought she had at least a few years. I do know, though, that her last emails were much shorter and less newsy.