Guest Post: Not today. Paul Curran died

/ October 9, 2016
Did this cause our Paul to die?

Did this cause our Paul to die?

There’s no Sunday guest column from Paul Curran this week. He died. Warning. Several glasses of wine have gone from hand to mouth in the production of this blog post.

We don’t know why our friend Paul Curran passed away.

I found out that the man who lived im Ottawa, Canada, the writer who graced all our lives with a guest Sunday column here every Sunday morning and regular comments on many WordPress blogs, had died when a email from a neighbor of his in Ottawa, Ontario, sent a message to me through my WordPress blog attracted my notice yesterday.

I still can’t find any official Canadian obituary via Internet search to confirm Paul’s passing.

But the numerous reblogs and comments since my initial shocked disclosure of Paul’s death in a post yesterday reaffirms my belief that his presence, his words, his comments, his posts, here on WordPress were and are important.

He wrote that he’d never think twice about suing or otherwise because of the screw-up that made him die on the operating table. Then he really died.

There’s no obituary that I can trace. My friend, the guy I never met face-to-face but came to cherish for his love of words and life, this former truck driver Paul Curran, laid out one hell of a story here on
WordPress.

Perhaps there ia more to discover for those who have the people, time and resources to dig. Do you hear me CBS’ 60 Minutes, ABC’s 20/20 and NBC’s Dateline? Plus any other sites out there with an interest and the willingness to poke around? Maybe I’m being too dramatic in the moment. Maybe Paul Curran just died.

Here’s the link to the guest post I’m Sorry, which Paul wrote about his procedure and resulting operation to save his life.

Wnat did the words and wisdom of Paul Curran mean to you? Would you have raised a ruckus if so much have gone wrong during your operation? Do you remember a Paul Curran guest post or comment that influenced your life‘

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54 thoughts on “Guest Post: Not today. Paul Curran died”

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  3. First, I’d like to say thank you, Mark for your beautiful tribute to Paul. I am so very sorry for the loss of your friend. He and I had become friends only recently, and being Paul, he made an impression that left a footprint on my heart that will remain. I will remember him fondly, and hope to see him one day on the other side.

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      • Oh, bro……….I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it……….I hope he’s up there, smiling down on us, seeing, somehow, just how many lives he impacted for the better. You gave him a place to share his gift, because you’re an amazing friend.

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  6. Dear Mark,
    I’m sorry that it took something sad for me to pop over here. Paul will most definitely be missed – I looked forward to his sweet and thoughtful comments as well as his amazing stories and posts. You have been a good friend to him and know this hits you hard, too.
    Thank you again for letting us know (Courtney e-mailed me) and I promise to be back over to visit soon.
    Michelle

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    • Oh, Michelle, Paul was so many things to so many of us here on WordPress. I don’t know how he did it. I’ll miss him so much.
      I’ll visit your place soon. Busy, yes, but we can’t be strangers. ❤

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  8. Oh no, Mark! Please tell me this is not true. This post made me cry. Paul is the one who started calling me NBC and he would always comment on my posts. I was feeling a bit down lately as a friend’s hubby died in his sleep on 29.9.16 and another friend’s brother also passed away due to heart failure on the same day. The last comment from him was on 27.9.16 which he just laughed – “Bwahahaha” and I also came across his comment on 21.9.16 that made me think that maybe he knew his time was near : https://newbloggycat.com/2016/09/21/joke-of-the-day-toilet-roll/ RIP Paul. I will miss you and thanks for your stories, your gift of insight and your warm humor. ♡(ŐωŐ人)

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  10. What a fighter. And such an great attitude to aspire to especially considering all he had been through. One can only hope he is feeling the legacy of love he left behind. Mark, I would consider your blog a fitting, interactive obituary. I am so sorry he is gone.

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  12. Oh, no! Mark! Say it’s not so. He’s our walking talking wikipedia. All of his trucking stories, crossing the borders, driving through snowstorms, telling me how Canadians raked the snow off their roofs, etc. On 9/27, I asked him, “How you feelin’ today?” And he answered at 1:50 pm, “No good liveable.” Weird, no? I remember he said, “Fall is my favorite season – cool and crispy.” And on 9/2, after reading my Bob Hope USO post, he wrote, “Indeed Kerbey, a fitting tribute to a man who made many laugh.” I think maybe that applies to him today. He always made me smile. Paul Curran, a man who made many smile.

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  15. He left me so many comments that were blog posts in themselves. I was always so happy to see them, and often he would leave me a link and ask if I would read something he’d written. I always wound up here, reading his guest posts.

    I’m so grateful to see how many people realize how much thought and love he put into his reading and commenting and writing. He was one of a kind.
    Thank you for immortalizing him on your blog.

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  16. Oh, I will miss Paul. Smart, funny, thoughful. Prolific 😉 . I especially remember this post, although I can’t bear to read it now. Reading him talk about almost dying in light of actually doing so, well, I just can’t.

    A true, heartfelt apology can make all the difference, even here in the litigious U.S. I read a scientific study on it not long ago, and when docs apologize folks tend to not sue them. If they pretend they’re god, not so much. I’m not sure if litigation was an option in Canada, but I’m sure that Paul wouldn’t have done it. (Nor would I). The thing about being sick for a long time is that you really get it — the fact that your body just doesn’t behave the way you want it to.

    RIP my friend.

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  17. Mark, the thing that always touched my heart about Paul was the depth of love and compassion he had when commenting on my own blog. He truly saw beneath my words into my heart. We were able to establish a heart-to-heart connection through his comments on my blog, and my comments on his. He was so open, transparent and vulnerable, it was easy to know him. And it was a blessing that he knew me.

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  18. Paul was surprised when somehow bloggers managed to send someone to knock on his door when he was missing that time. He emailed he wasn’t aware anyone would miss him – and promised to leave a note to contact the blogworld if anything happened to him. Maybe he did. He was always thoughtful like that.
    As far as the medical concerns, there are multiple surgeons, Er/Intenesive care nurses in this family. The reality is that sometimes there are complications not caused by bad docs/medical treatment, people “die” and are revived in the OR more than you know, people who have had cancer or on dialysis are always as risk as their bodies have been through so much already, and TV doctor/hospital shows are fiction – everyone is not always all better. Bodies wear out and can just take so much – even when you have the best dotors and hospital care.
    I knew Paul was seriously at risk after that last mess which is why I started worrying a lot last Sunday/Monday when there was no sign of him anywhere.
    Life is hard on body and soul.
    Paul knew that. An amazing guy. He’d not want us to get angy over what is, but to celebrate life and be really “with” those around us. You just never know. Paul always kept the porch light on for humanity – and he’d expect others to try and follow his model.
    Pass the wine bottle.
    Who need some stinkin’ newspaper obit. when you got bloggers for friends? Cheers

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  19. He will be greatly missed. I think Paul really taught us about the importance of relationships and how our words really do matter, how kindness matters. He was special, he had a powerful impact on so many of us, so the loss is profound, the grief is significant.

    I think a great way to pay tribute to Paul is to follow his lead, to befriend a few lonely bloggers, to build relationships, to show kindness to others and to share our stories with one another. Paul gave us a beautiful example of how it’s done, of the power we have to impact people positively, even in the midst of cancer and dialysis, even in the midst of our own struggles.

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  20. Oh, Mark, you know how I felt about Paul Curran. I will miss him terribly. After the “I’m Sorry” post, I asked him if, now that he had been on the other side, could he tell the rest of us what’s over there? Many people would have taken that comment as sarcastic and inappropriate, but our Paul was able to take it in stride and lightheartedly berate me for making it. Little did I know that just a few weeks later, he would be on the other side for real. I half suspect (and wish) that at some point someone will receive a comment or email from him saying, “It was all a mistake, people!” But in my heart, I know that won’t happen. As for not being able to find a death notice or obituary, not every death is reported. When my mother died, we opted to not have the death publicized in that way because it as her wish. Hugs, friend.

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  22. i always remember him because in all of his writings he never judged people and when he got knocked down, he always got up again. until now. but i think his passing shows how many lives he touched and i hope he knew.

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  23. I’m so sorry to read this one, bro Mark. I enjoyed the columns I have read by Paul, and he will be greatly missed. You did a wonderful job on the Eulogy, despite those several glasses of wine. I won’t go into my feelings about the botched job inflicted on him by the medical community. I’ve been pretty outspoken about my feelings for them in the past The one thing I will say is that any doctor who thinks he/she is god should be required to read about what happened to Paul. They should also review the Hippocratic oath they each took, especially the words “first, do no harm”!!!!!
    I hope you can take some comfort in the fact that Paul is no longer in distress from pain or illness. Cold comfort, I know, but sometimes it helps to remember that. Feel better, my friend, just hang in there and feel better. That will be a full-time job for the next phase of your life.

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      • I read some of his articles on your blog and enjoyed them, bro Mark. The day I begin taking the death of those close to me as a shrugging matter will be the day to just hang it up and get off the train. He will be missed by everyone, but the world was better for his having been in it. I will be happy if someone will say that about me when my time here is over, but then again, I’ll be beyond the caring point then. I’m glad you are feeling better my friend. I worry about you.

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  25. My condolences on your loss Mark. You and Paul may never have met physically, but hiswords were thebridge between you.

    I think for me, the thing I loved most about Paul was his ability to not only appreciate and celebrate people as they were–flaws and all–but to allow us to see them that way too.

    He will be missed.

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    • One of Paul’s comments that shows him as a true Renaissance man was in response to a blog post [https://barbtaub.com/2016/06/06/top-10-reasons-historical-fiction-beats-history-bookreview-wrath-of-a-righteous-man-wwi/ ]. From history to pure math, science, philosophy, programming, and truck engines–pure vintage Paul!

      Paul wrote: ” I like the idea of conscious living. Upon occasion I have run into topics that required the investment of time and work and understanding to get at the underlying truth. Anything less would not have produced understanding – so basically go big (applying large investment of time and energy) or go home (leave the topic knowing that it is not yours to understand). I have pondered this effect and have come to a few conclusions.
      The underlying truth in a given topic or subject can lay at any level within the topic. For instance some large topics are simply the repetition of small logical units operating together. In that case, there is a repeating truth and a binding truth that holds the units of logic together. Like writing a large computer program (or fractals in nature) subroutines are written that are called whenever a recurring calculation is required. This constitutes a “shallow truth ” – one that lies close to the surface. Then there are subjects wherein the truth relates uniquely to every piece of the problem – there is little repetition. For instance it could be as time consuming to assemble 1,000 mouse traps as it is to rebuild a truck engine. Each mouse trap is a simple machine that employs simple truths. Each time one is completed, it is finished and the truth does not carry over to the next – which is just a repetition of the first – and so on. In a truck engine each part relates to the whole. There is a small amount of repetition from cylinder to cylinder, but each is necessary to the whole – the engine will not run (for long) if one is left undone. Each mouse trap will work just as well regardless of how many others are completed.
      So you see the level of truth is different in different applications. Much like prime numbers, the bigger the uniquely organized problem is, the more likely it is to be composed of factors. In other words, prime numbers get further apart as they get larger – tending to infinite gaps. The bigger the number (read application) the bigger the chance that there are factors. As an intriguing aside, primes still tend to run in pairs at large numbers as well – although that doesn’t change the average distance between. http://www.wired.com/2014/12/mathematicians-make-major-discovery-prime-numbers/
      And so it is with understanding in the real world. the deeper the truth is in a subject the more effort has to be applied to understand and the more complex (more internal interactions and inter-relationships) the subject. Much of what we use day to day is relatively easily understood with shallow and repeating truths. Sometimes the topic gets more complex and the truth lies deeper. When that happens we are forced to either leave it alone or dig deeper to find the truth – live consciously.”

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