There is a crack in everything.........

that's how the light gets in.

Today I was supposed to be posting about New Years Eve but in the early hours of this morning I recieved a text message which has compelled me to postpone that one until tomorrow.

Instead I'm going to tell you about Kristian Anderson.

I can't remember when I became aware of Kristian or how exactly but it was all down to a video posted on YouTube.



Kristian made this video for his wife's (Rachel) birthday to thank her for all her support.  He managed to get Hugh Jackman and the Prime Minister of New Zealand to take part and, as a result, the video went viral and fame followed.

The video is beautiful and as soon as I watched it I wanted to know more about Kristian's story which led me to find his blog (there is a crack in everything -  that's how the light gets in) where I discovered that Kristian was a 34 year old married man, with 2 young children (Cody and Jakob) and a deep faith in God, who was diagnosed with bowel and liver cancer in October 2009.

I also found a further video which Kristian (a film editor) had posted of their wedding day and it was so touching to see a couple so obviously deeply in love with other and dreadful to know that heartbreak was waiting just around the corner for them. 



I became a follower of Kristian's blog and also subscribed to his Twitter account (and Rachel's when she joined) and have been watching his progress, and setbacks, for quite some time.  His abiding faith in God, and a cure, and the amazing spirit he shows have proven an inspiration to people all over the world and led to appearances on Oprah and other television shows, Oprah donated $250,000 to assist with medical expenses and Train sang 'Marry Me' (the song Kristian set his video to) in tribute to them live in a television studio.





In addition to a gruelling treatment plan over the last 2 years Kristian also successfully campaigned to the Australian federal government for Erbitux (a bowel cancer drug) to be subsidised, making it widely accessible to many who previously had no hope of being able to obtain it.

In October Kristian and Rachel were told that, despite superhuman efforts, there was no longer any medical intervention that could provide curative benefit and he was given 3 - 6 months to live.  There have been no posts on the blog for over a month and the reports on Twitter over the last fortnight have been increasingly heartbreaking as it became obvious that Kristian was approaching the end of his very brave fight. 

Kristian passed away peacefully in hospital this morning.

RIP Kristian Anderson, I hope you found your God and were welcomed with open arms.

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