After Gerry Krobisch was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, he and his wife moved from New York to Baltimore, just a few blocks from his daughter and two of his grandsons, ages 3 and 5. Living in Baltimore meant he was able to see his grandkids almost every day – picking them up from school, taking them to the park, watching them grow up. As Gerry said a few nights before he died, “it doesn’t get any better than this… surrounded by my family.” Click below to hear his story.

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My name is, uh, Gerhard Kish, age, uh, 70. And uh, I have been diagnosed with, uh, cancer of the esophagus, uh, which ultimately spread to the liver and uh, to my lung. My name is Pita Kish and I’ve been married to Gerhard k Kish for about 47 years. I believe that’s correct. And, uh, we are best friends and, uh, we’ve lived a very wonderful life together.

I’m originally, uh, from Germany. I was born in Germany came to the United States, uh, in the, uh, early sixties. I live in, uh, s New York. I’ve lived there for many, many years. I, uh, have moved to Baltimore for the, uh, for the duration of the treatments. My daughter lives here in Baltimore. I’m only three blocks away from my daughter’s, uh, house.

She has two children. Which are my grandchildren, Tommy and, uh, Charlie. Tommy is five and Charlie is three. So we see them almost every day, which is, uh, very comforting to be near them, to be near my daughter, near family. We have been very blessed by being able to be very close to our grandchildren, whoever thought that something that was very devastating would bring us all so close together.

Tommy, uh, ham. Uh, my daughter’s, uh, boy is, uh, five years old. He, um, he’s a very outgoing boy, has a lot of fun, loves the outdoors, loves to play with Opa. Opa is, uh, a German word for grandfather or grandpa. I am his grandpa and I am Opa, and he loves to play with his Oma and he loves the, uh. Food that Omar prepares for him.

He loves, uh, pancakes with, uh, peaches and, uh, blueberries. He could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We call him tilt and twirl and twist and twirl. He’s always running and jumping and falling down and saying, I’m okay. Tommy’s okay. And he’s got this devilish grin on his face, and he’s just very lovable.

He’s the light of our life. And the same goes for Charlie. He might be just a little bit different in his personality, but boy is he catching up. We call him chuckles, and he’s full of fun. And actually right now he’s being potty trained and Oma gives him a tic-tac every time he goes to the potty. Charlie is a more quiet kid, uh, as opposed to, uh, Tommy.

He’s not as outgoing yet as, uh, Tommy is, but he’s getting around to it. He’s becoming more, more, uh, independent. He’s a very, very gentle boy. Very gentle boy. Uh, we love him. We love them both and we are so happy to see them almost on a daily basis. I noticed something very interesting yesterday when I was, um, going to, um, the school that, uh, Tommy our grandson is going to attend.

He was clinging to his mother while his mother was, uh, talking to the teacher. And then his mother kind of, uh, walked away and he was still a little clingy. So he clung to me. While we were talking to other children, he was clinging onto my leg as if I was his mother. I found it very interesting. The clinging was very exciting for me.