Tim Cummings

After a long and courageous battle with cancer, Tim Cummings passed peacefully through the veil early this morning, moving forward on his eternal journey.

Growing up, we were close with a couple of families in our ward and stake. I grew up with these families, their kids, and they were a constant part of my life. These are the kind of friends that we always watched the Superbowl with, had Christmas traditions of caroling and eating cinnamon rolls during Christmastime, went on family vacations to Lake Mead, celebrated Halloween with... people who were like other sets of parents to me. I consider them to be family. One of those families is the Cummings family.

Over a year ago, Tim Cummings was diagnosed with cancer and the Cummings family was presented with this totally new challenge in their life. It's been a really tough year full of challenges and heartache. Chad and I had the opportunity to stop by St. George and see them a couple of times throughout the last year as we've been driving through on our way to/from Utah and they have always been optimistic and happy. Tim was a comedian, the kind of guy full of life who could always make you smile or laugh. Even while experiencing chemotherapy, when we saw him he had a smile and something nice to say.
In the last couple of weeks, Tim has been in incredible pain and earlier this week, they decided to stop all of his maintenance medications/IV's/treatments except for pain and anti-anxiety medications. It was time for him to return Home, and he passed away early this morning. We love the Cummings family and pray they will have comfort in their loss. This has been an interesting experience for me as I've heard of the various challenges and struggles that Tim and Liz have been through in the past year. I wasn't a direct participant like my parents in helping them, but they've constantly been in our prayers. I've also had the experience to take care of patients one-on-one on the oncology floor at the hospital where we do our clinical hours, and I know the tremendous pain and suffering that can come with cancer. People handle it so differently. I took care of one man (34 years old) who was given a year left to live when he was diagnosed a couple months prior to the day I took care of him who was depressed, withdrawn, and completely hopeless. Nothing I did or said made any difference in his mood, and I felt helpless. I tried to my best to be happy and help him when I could, but it didn't really make much different.

That same day, I also took care of another patient with terminal cancer (49 years old) who had approached cancer with a completely different frame of mind. She was pleasant, cooperative, and optimistic despite the circumstances. As I got to know her a little better and took care of her throughout the day, she told me stories about her life and her gratitude for everything that she'd been through. It was a spiritual experience to be able to serve someone who was so close to our Heavenly Father. She had things figured out, and she was content and happy to be able to return to our Heavenly Home. I hope if I ever experience that challenge in my life, I could have that attitude.

Tim had that attitude, as well as his family. They have the understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives and they know that they will be together again someday. That's really the most important thing. When things get hard, you just have to remember that it all pays off and someday we will all be reunited with our families again. We love you Tim.

Tim Cummings 11/14/2009