A man terminally ill with cancer and his friendship with a hospice worker:

“Andres was in his brother’s living room on the Northside last August as he told his story. A small group of family and friends was his audience. No one flinched as he covered the tougher parts – everyone there knew the story. When he finished, though, he turned toward an empty spot in the room and said something that made the room go silent.

“‘There’s just one thing I can’t understand,’ he said. ‘They can fix all these people. But they can’t fix me.’

“Kelly Racine broke the silence. She is a psychosocial specialist with Community Hospice who was on one of her weekly visits to see Andres. Hearing him talk about things that can’t be explained, she asked him what he had decided to do despite the incurable disease. His eyebrows lifted.

“‘Make people laugh,’ he said.

“‘And what is your word?’ she said.

“‘Survive,’ he said, and his mood brightened a little.”