My team is generally fairly young so imagine my shock when I found out one of my employees passed away at 27. I know she had been very recently diagnosed with cancer but it was supposedly operable with a high chance of full recovery (although a 1-2 month recovery time). The last day I talked with her was the day before she was scheduled to have surgery. Two weeks later HR contacted me and said she wouldn't be coming back to work. I reached out to her just to tell her that the team was hoping that everything was going as well as it could and was thinking about her (making it clear she didn't have to tell me any details). Her husband wrote back about her condition. I guess the cancer had spread to her brain and she was having strokes and seizures. The following day he wrote me to tell me she passed away.
They had been married for 3 months and had been trying to start their family. Crazy. So I had to tell the team and then the company. That company wide email took a loooong time to write. Her and I had shared a cube wall for a while so the whole situation has been tough (admittedly not as tough as for her husband though). Her funeral is this weekend so I'll be bringing the card and office donations and flowers to her husband. Will probably need to find another time to bring the personal items in her cube to him. Ugh.
They had been married for 3 months and had been trying to start their family. Crazy. So I had to tell the team and then the company. That company wide email took a loooong time to write. Her and I had shared a cube wall for a while so the whole situation has been tough (admittedly not as tough as for her husband though). Her funeral is this weekend so I'll be bringing the card and office donations and flowers to her husband. Will probably need to find another time to bring the personal items in her cube to him. Ugh.