On Dec. 30, 2017, as snowflakes fell outside his window, my husband and the love of my life, J.J. Hanson, took his last breath. He was 36 years old. I was with him, holding our two young sons in my arms. We had known the day would come — J.J. had been living with terminal brain cancer for three and a half years. But that was more than three years longer than his doctors had expected.
Learning you or a loved one has a terminal illness is devastating and scary. In our case it was also a shock. J.J. was a Marine Corps veteran of Iraq, a new father, and he had a job he loved. We were living the American dream and thought we had a long future ahead of us, until we learned J.J. had stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme, one of the most aggressive and deadliest forms of brain cancer.
Read more at USA Today…