By Mark Randolph (with a tip of the hat to Doug)

There was a recent headline on December 30, 2009, about the latest achievement regarding a new Pi computation record. You know, good ole number 3.14159265. You probably need to dig out that high school geometry book in order to brush up on the many uses. It is used to get the volume or a surface area of a disc, or the circumference of a circle. It’s also used to measure how fast and how powerful a computer is. Because it is so well known they can use it to check the accuracy of both hardware and software problems within a computer. Geeks love this stuff. In the natural world Pi is used to measure things like ocean waves, light waves, sound waves and river bends. The new world record for the computation of the digits of Pi is now 2242301460000 hexadecimal digits (base 16) 2699999990000 decimal digits (base 10). I am no mathematician but I do know that is an awfully large number, and highly accurate. I think.

The number of people that follow the DHRandolph blog is a pretty big number as well. Whether any of them use Pi outside of the classroom would be a separate discussion for a separate day. I am guessing that discussion would be short. And boring. However, it got me to thinking. What about the measure of a man? How is that calculated? Over the past 18 months Doug shared his life in an open book. We followed his journey from the first onset of metastatic colorectal cancer to its ultimate conclusion on January 8^th, 2010. Through this blog we were constantly amazed by the grace and humor by which he informed us of his condition. The caring bridge (and later DHR blog) was a great idea because it allowed the friends and family to stay in close touch without being a burden. Old high school friends, long lost cousins, several neighborhoods within Lake Wobegon and a large part of the St. Cloud metropolitan statistical area, came out of the woodwork. I don’t know about you, but to me it took on sort of a real world soap opera where we were introduced to family, friends, history, obtuse medical terminology, marketing studies, Eastern medicine and best of all - Doug’s tremendous sense of humor and love of life. We followed the blog on a weekly basis and cheered in unison when the cancer numbers were down (or static) and held our breath when the numbers started to climb back up. He had the uncanny ability to write about a life threatening disease from both the inside out and the outside looking in. Circular. He diagnosed and methodically explained how his life was changing, always with a sense of calmness, a bit of technical knowledge, and always with humor. You see, that’s where he roped us all in, because life is nothing without hope. Each week he drew us in closer with the hope of a better outcome, a better friendship, and a better tomorrow. We all rallied around this one individual who stole our hearts and refused to give it back until the ride was over. And what a ride it was. There will be many nice things said about Doug over the next several weeks - about the huge accomplishments he achieved over his short life. But I dare say one of his greatest achievements will be the awakening of the human spirit he instilled within each and every one of us. The human spirit is also a hard thing to measure because it tends to be all around us but we don’t always know when it is there. Doug reminded us and ultimately, through precise measure, made us all accountable.

We as a society have become obsessed with hero worship. We choose athletes, movie stars or musicians and place them on a pedestal so high they could never possibly live up to the expectations we place on them. Unfortunately, we are more often than not disappointed when our chosen heroes turn out to be mere mortals and not the super humans we thought they were. I believe we are looking for heroes in all the wrong places.

The definition of “ hero” reads as follows:

1. A man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

2. A person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal.

We have encountered many heroes on our cancer journey, and we have found them in the most unlikely of places. The nurses and Doctors at the Cancer Center, John at the front door giving each patient the dignity they deserve, Hospice Home care staff who help countless people with end of life challenges, the friends and family who rise to a difficult occasions. We love them all.

My hero is the true embodiment of the definition. He showed distinguished courage every day of his life. He was truly admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. He was a person who, in the opinion of all that knew him, performed heroic acts and was regarded as a model by all who knew him. Doug Randolph, my husband, best friend, and hero in every sense of the word, died today surrounded by all of us that loved him best. He was my hero and I will love him forever.

Thanks to all of you loyal and loving readers. Doug’s writing and even more importantly, your supportive responses made his cancer journey easier. Choose your heroes wisely dear friends.

Stephanie Randolph