Allis, me and Bob at Sam Choy’s, March 2009.

Just heard that my friend Bob Sega succumbed to cancer today. Bob had been living with cancer for quite some time now, but he was such a warrior. Bob rode his bike in countless races to raise funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and to raise awareness of and educate others about cancer. He never stopped, even though the disease and age were slowing him down little by little all the time.

The last time I saw Bob was less than a year ago, when he and his wife, Allis, came out to Hawai‘i for vacation. It was such a privilege to spend time with them, especially after all the trouble Bob went through finding the darned restaurant on a GPS device that somehow steered him in the opposite direction from the airport. Months later, we exchanged e-mails about the phase III clinical trial he had just enrolled in, as well as the upcoming Austin LIVESTRONG Challenge. Biking wasn’t so much on Bob’s mind as far as Austin was concerned, at least in terms of this e-mail. He wanted to know if our mutual friend Vicky and I were going to be at the Challenge, too, not only for our friendship, but because he wanted me to bring him some SPAM musubi!

“No kidding,” he insisted. “I really liked the stuff.”

:o)

Allis, the thoughts and prayers of many are with you tonight. We’ll miss you, Bob.