Yesterday, 1 day after his 49th birthday, Ricky Sandoval died of pancreatic cancer.

I never met Ricky - I was close to doing so last Dec. and it didn't work out.  I am friends with his wife, Gael, a wonderful human being, who, in the short number of years she and Ricky had together, spent 3 of them helping Ricky live and then die.

In the last few years, it seems the number of deaths of people in our industry or the spouses, like Ricky, of industry friends, has been far too many.  There was dear Beth Calveard in Tennessee and Marc Brett in NJ, and Ray Shepard in Georgia.  All were younger than I and all were far too young to die.

Then there are my friends Jeff and Cathy who are, like I am, living with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.  We've compared notes about our conditions and take heart in what we learn. Living with cancer is just not fun and though you don't think about it all the time, you do when symptoms appear.

I thought about writing using some clichés about living life to its fullest, about caring about each person you encounter. It wasn't that. It was simply writing in appreciation of Ricky, his life and the lives of those who came into my life and left too early.

It's about being sad beyond words for these industry friends and others like my friend Jonie who died at 40 of cancer that returned after she thought she was better.

Get check ups -- promise me you will -- and remind others to do so.  It's the least you can do.

Oh and yes, appreciate those whose lives touch yours and those whose lives you touch.