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Growing up, I admired how my father always had the latest gadget or new toy. He loved all of the new inventions the 1980’s had to offer, but what he cherished the most was the invention of the mobile phone. In fact, he was one of the first people I knew to get a car phone in the late 1980’s – a DiamondTel phone, weighing just under five pounds. Next, he graduated to the Motorola StarTAC, the first “clam shell” phone, a style that later became known as the “flip phone.” Throughout my childhood, rarely was there a dinner or a car ride which was not interrupted by the inevitable ringing of his cell phone, making it a large part of our life: at least it was up until September 11, 2001. While that was a horrific day for many families and for our nation, my family experienced a completely unrelated and personal tragedy. My father was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme four, an advanced form of brain cancer. He had a tumor the size of a lemon located behind his right ear; the same side of his head he had been holding his various cell phones up to for almost fifteen … Read the full text …