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When Your Co-worker is Dying

This blog post is dedicated to a fellow work and friend of mine of some 14 years.

Ryan Andersen was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer about 4 years ago.  The doctors told him he had about 8 months to live.  Ryan was a very unique individual, he spoke his mind and was a very good programmer.  I can attribute a lot of what I've learned in programming (especially in web programming) from Ryan.  We worked together close to 14 years and we became a very strong team.  Every once in awhile I come across some of his comments in our code and I just laugh.

In the workplace, it was a very tough situation knowing Ryan was going to pass away soon, but also try and get as much information from him on the projects he was working on.  We actually were in the middle of a software project that we marketed and sold.  I had the task of taking over, but imagine while you're working with your fellow co-worker, who doesn't think they're going to die.  It was tough.  Not as tough as what Ryan was going through though.  Every time I think about his death I get teary eyed.

Ryan passed away in January 2015.  He had a wife and 10 year old son at the time of his death.  He was only 47 years old.

Every once in awhile if I'm working on some project or code and I get stuck, I'll say a little prayer to Ryan to help me out :)  We miss you Ryan and thank you for all the help you've given me!



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