THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2008 09:26 PM, CST

Diego died in our arms surrounded by people who love him. He started having breathing problems the night before and went from 4 liters of oxygen on the nasal cannula to 10 liters with a mask. At one point his saturation was only 72 and his heart rate was falling to 87. He had been at 97- 98 breathing saturation and heart rate of 130's. He was working so hard to breathe. His heart rate went up to 183 and 100% saturation but still was struggling to breathe and it just did not stop. I think a tumor in his lung burst and took over what was left of his breathing space. We told him about an hour before he died he could rest now, that he could stop fighting. He said I want to fight. He was so loving up until the end. Leaving him cold and alone in his bed was the hardest thing we ever did. We know he was not in there but it is hard to except. We miss him so much but the gravity of the loss has not really sunk in so I imagine that this will get harder. For now we watch videos and look at pictures. We cry uncontrollably but also still laugh. It does not seem real.