The News You Never Get Used To

There’s a word people don’t like to say out loud.

Not because it’s hard to pronounce—but because of what it carries.

Cancer.

Or as many call it, the dreaded “C.”

And recently, it came close again.

A beautiful soul I knew—Vanessa—passed away just two days ago. Ovarian cancer. It had already spread.

The last time we spoke, she told me she was okay.

And like most of us do, I chose to believe her.

Maybe because it’s easier that way.

Maybe because we want to hold on to hope, even when reality is quietly slipping through our fingers.

There’s something about this kind of news—it doesn’t just make you sad.

It pauses you.

In the middle of your routine, your plans, your next destination… everything just slows down. You start thinking about conversations you had, moments you shared, and even the ones you didn’t.

As someone who spends a lot of time at sea, I’ve gotten used to distance—physically being away from people who matter.

But news like this? Distance doesn’t soften it.

If anything, it makes it heavier.

We Can Build Weapons… But Not This

Here’s what doesn’t sit right with me.

We can build things that destroy cities.

We can send machines into space.

We can do things our grandparents couldn’t even imagine.

But cancer?

Still here.

Still taking people like Vanessa.

We’ve got treatments.

We’ve got “options.”

We’ve got “hope.”

But not certainty.

And when it’s someone you know, those words feel… small.

Moments like this remind me of something simple, but often forgotten:

We don’t really control how long we get.

But we do have a say in how we show up while we’re here.

A message.

A call.

A quick “How are you, really?”

Sometimes we delay these things, thinking there’s always tomorrow.

Until one day, there isn’t.

For Vanessa

You were one of the kind ones. The genuine ones.

And the world feels a little quieter without you.

Wherever you are now, I hope it’s a place without pain, without hospitals, without the weight you carried so bravely.

I still believe—someone, somewhere, is getting closer.

A scientist, a researcher, maybe even a team we’ve never heard of yet… working late nights, chasing something that could one day save millions.

And when that day comes, it will mean everything.