Six months

I wasn't certain I'd live beyond Michael's death, but I did. My heart kept beating and my lungs kept expanding and contracting ... There are moments I really do hope I'll die so I can be with him again. He was a total Mama's boy, after all. He always made me laugh, and I was even more fortunate that he married Janet, who shares that same, wicked sense of humor.

There have been times since he died that I want to give up and die too, but it's not as easy as that. Whenever I feel particularly despondent, I can hear him telling me, "You still have work to do, Mom; it's not your time yet."

I still have to do my job and I stil have to organize rallies and make people aware how important it is to speak up for health care reporm. People are dying. Probably more than 15,000 in the US since Mike died. It's a tragic loss - - an unspeakable tragedy. We have to ut a stop to it.