A Post from Rachel & Carla

Hello, this post is from Rachel & Carla, Ceil’s daughters. We’re sorry to have to tell the readers of this blog that our mom passed away at the end of January 3rd.

As she mentioned in her last post, Ceil was able to spend the holiday season with family and friends, and although her energy and appetite were waning, she thoroughly enjoyed visiting and being visited by loved ones. On New Year’s Eve we noticed that her energy and mobility were severely decreased. On New Year’s day she received visits and phone calls from friends and family, but didn’t have the energy to leave her bed. It became apparent that she was very dehydrated. We kept her as hydrated as possible, and on Friday we brought her in to see her doctors, who recommended that she be admitted to the hospital for more comprehensive rehydration and observation.

Our hope and expectation was that they would rehydrate her, perhaps give her a blood transfusion, and she would regain her energy and vitality and then return home to resume her fight against the disease. But on Saturday, despite excellent and thorough treatment, it was clear that something was not right. The doctors at NYU Hospital quickly took her to the ICU and determined that the melanoma had aggressively spread. It was very sudden and unexpected, and her liver had failed. The doctors were very patient and helpful, but they made it clear that the melanoma had won.

We had seen what the disease was doing to her, especially in the past couple months, but I think we all really believed, as many of you did, that she could beat this thing through sheer force of will. It was an extremely difficult day, but she was comfortable and surrounded by loved ones.

We know that this blog was very important to her, as a way to make sense of her struggle against this illness, as a way for her to communicate with people and as a way for her to practice her love of writing. We have attempted to contact people we know, but she also touched many people through this blog that we would not know how to reach otherwise.

We will be holding a visitation/memorial service for Ceil on Thursday, January 8th from 3-7pm at the Hawthorne Funeral Home. We welcome all of her friends to join us. See the site for directions and details.

In lieu of sending flowers, please consider making a small donation to the NYU Cancer Center in Ceil's name. They were so incredibly wonderful and supportive of our mom, throughout the time she was fighting this disease, and they continue to do very important research. (NYU Melanoma Research Fund, NYU Clinical Cancer Center, 9th Floor, 160 East 34th Street, NY, NY 10016. Attention: Dr. Pavlick, In memory of Celia Silver Rosenfeld)

Please feel free to leave comments here for Ceil, her friends and her family. We would like to print these comments out and have them available at her memorial service. Let us know if you would prefer not to have your comments included in this event. If you would rather send a private message to the family, or have questions about her or this blog, we will continue to receive email at Ceil’s email address (ceil[at]ceilsilver[dot]com) or you can use Rachel’s email address (mirka23[at]gmail[dot]com).

Thank you all, our mom was very special to us, and I know she was very special to so many people.

The pictures speak for themselves

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving; a small family gathering in upstate New York, filled with warmth and hugs and lots of good food. My taste was off, but it was still delicious! And it was a rare opportunity to enjoy both daughters at the same place and time.


I am thankful for the opportunity to go natural....

My daughters

My younger daughter, Carla, graduated from Duke University this spring with a Master of Environmental Management degree (MEM). Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment offers excellent programs with many sub-specialties to satisfy a variety of interests.

Earlier in the semester she applied to several companies for jobs and all of them made offers. She chose the company she liked best, which happens to be about a million miles away. Well, that’s a mother’s perception. She’s on her way to California, near San Francisco, to start her new job at the end of this month. She’ll be a consultant doing “risk assessment” studies.

Although I’d certainly be more comfortable with her in same time zone as me, I’m extremely proud of her accomplishments, determination, independence, and idealism.

My older daughter, Rachel, lives and works in Manhattan. She’s a professional information specialist for a web design and marketing company in midtown, and likewise, one to make her mother proud!

At the end of last week, the two met up in Washington, D.C, about halfway between New York City and Durham, NC, and from there started the cross-country drive together. They should arrive in San Francisco tomorrow, Wednesday, when they can start house hunting before Rachel returns home.

I’m thrilled the two of them have this opportunity to share each other’s company, even if it is in the cramped quarters of a Subaru hatchback with two cats and boxes of household goods. They are very close, despite more than twelve years difference in age.

They’ve called regularly to report their progress. Last night they were in Salt Lake City, this afternoon they were driving though Nevada. They’ll finish the last leg of their journey in the morning after a stop in Reno for the night.

I can’t say enough how proud I am of these wonderful young women. They are the joy of my life! They’ve grown into their independent spirits, are responsible and headstrong, and lead very interesting lives. They have been of particular comfort to me in the weeks since my diagnosis. And it warms my heart to see how devoted they are to each other.