not technically a provider of a service but i remember having an instructor for a class i was really excited for, who NEVER graded my work, i think at one point he was 8 weeks behind on grading in a 16 week course. around week 14 i was annoyed bc the final was coming up and he hadn’t even graded my midterm yet… and then i got the email he had died. definitely changed my perspective on what I view as important vs what ACTUALLY matters at the end of your life
I don't know what happened to my OChem professor in college but the guy was a great professor, clearly loved the subject, very animated and busy (jumped on a desk at one point to properly display a chemical attachment), then suddenly 3 weeks before the end of the semester he disappeared. We were just told he was ill. He wasn't around the next semester either. The semester after that he finally came back and was a completely different person. People who took his class said he had to sit in a rolling chair and push himself back and forth in front of the board, pointing at things with a yardstick to explain things all while just seeming exhausting and tired.
I hope he's doing better now but it made me incredibly sad to know someone who was so happy and vibrant and active got hit with something so hard that all he could do was push himself around in a rolling chair while getting out of breath. Dude was dedicated to his subject.
He was fairly young, still in his 30s, so while that's possible, it didn't seem as likely and he didn't really act like a stroke patient after he got back. It wasn't any one sided weakness, it was just he was overall just... seemed like someone who was fighting for every bit of energy he had. That was the other thing that made it sad, he was still very young and at the start of his career.
Yeah, that is possible. I have a relative who has ALS. It nearly killed him in his 30s, but he fought it and went through a lot of medical treatments. Still wrecked his body, his mobility, his coordination. Most people with ALS are dead within 10 years of the diagnosis, but he's a statistical anomaly and still alive into his 80s now. Getting around is a challenge, but he's basically lived a whole life despite being handed a death sentence, albeit with a disability that certainly impacted the quality of his life.
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u/pyxiedust219 2d ago
not technically a provider of a service but i remember having an instructor for a class i was really excited for, who NEVER graded my work, i think at one point he was 8 weeks behind on grading in a 16 week course. around week 14 i was annoyed bc the final was coming up and he hadn’t even graded my midterm yet… and then i got the email he had died. definitely changed my perspective on what I view as important vs what ACTUALLY matters at the end of your life