I learned about mortality at a very early age, when my mother passed away from cancer.

It was very surreal, and it took years before I was even able to start the grieving process in a way that made sense. It affects me even today, with my own family and it can make it somewhat difficult when explaining these things to my own children.

I think that I deal with it therapeutically through work, as I have devoted my blog to the fight against cancer and to the need for further biotechnology research in society. One of my children has shown a lot of interest in these areas to, and so it is possible that I may have an assistant one day if pursued through college.

Of course, cancer and other illnesses can impact both children and adults alike and I this is why I suggested recently to one of my kid’s teachers that the students perhaps spend a day doing volunteer work at a hospital rather than more ‘fun’ type field trips like paintball and the like.

I think it is important to instill these values in our children at an early age because life is short and unpredictable. I would not want them to feel unprepared in the same ways that I did when I was a child. All of these issues are tied together for me, and I hope that though my work we are able to make some sort of progress in these areas of society.