the friend article by matthew teague pdf the friend article by matthew teague pdf

"I can't die like this.". ( ( ( Nx4Au& ,USh^e1#miUO9>V_fKyBK.=89TUho.$ ' ~4QY&)m3*TUI++c(#IUvvV>{od*]/ul(;bv0^h&HT(kZi%7qprs@ 7:IccIP IcpA pkr=BW#%"R2 Gz EVus 2\c: oA!.d9v2[EuGj QE QE QE QE QE QE QE QE QE QE QE QE QE QE QE ~( "Does that smell like poop to you? Later that year, I remember him standing sentry at the hospital. Nicole decides that she does not want to tell their daughters until her quality of life declines significantly. I sawed at it with the scissors until it came free in my hand. She had called him for me. ( #NPRreads: Losing A Loved One To Cancer : The Two-Way : NPR - NPR.org Thought for the week: Michelle Dumont gets the picture. Casey Affleck on Our Friend and How Directing Has Changed Him - Collider When Nicole Teague was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012, it was the beginning of a saga that would test a marital relationship, bend the parameters of a friendship and ultimately be retold. "I'm so sorry.". ( MWbREy-8Qp=bqNWRp=RPhEyo.Q^[Jh-fTf {T&q\ 9+ 6s>6'yUp3Qf{uY"Q*:e4]P_0kH$4\,};E|g}z gPIV`*^$#VyHG}Wxx O~n/[=z\cF:f&e!9g|,Y\F ( An adultery theme, mature references, including to homosexuality and cohabitation, about a half-dozen uses of profanity, twice as many milder oaths and rough terms, considerable crude and crass language. Nicole Teague Opens Up About Cancer Diagnosis and Her Faith "So you're trying to starve me," she said. This is matched by restrained performances from the gifted cast: Casey Affleck as Matthew, Dakota Johnson playing Nicole and Jason Segel in the role of Dane.As Dane moves in with the couple and helps to care for their two daughters, Molly (Isabella Kai Rice) and Evie (Violet McGraw), the film celebrates devotion expressed in small gestures such as doing the laundry or making sandwiches. ( ( ( ( Magazine | The Friend ( ( ". Like somebody dipped a paintbrush in cancer and flicked it around her abdomen), the friendship between Teague and Faucheux, and Nicoles dying wishes (jumping in a downtown fountain with all her family and friends, becoming the grand marshal in her towns Mardi Gras parade). A half dozen college-aged women had climbed onto rocks jutting from the top of the falls, and while we watched they started taking off their clothes. /DecodeParms << /Quality 65 >> I let it carry on a long time, in part because she couldn't keep track of her phone. 12 6 Forever if he wanted. At the end of one trail, we found a waterfall and sat in the cool pool at its base, looking up at the cataract pouring down. ( Chatting. ( )L.Q^gKE+(z]QqEy(=.JZ.Q^kE4tUm7A?Vi( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (x_X0v m9 {Od?V@n8H [ mhQjeicT ~ HfG@TTq)KB ;AS[\Gwm 'ts 1FA MEV[F[L#dWwzl.(7FF_j1'L@VDip]_o>Fw$vOg,&FGWpB`b(BpQ$Wz << ( We would drive up to the foothills of the Appalachians and spend a couple days hiking. There were audible sobs from the audience, a standing ovation and a trip to the stage, where the cast answered an earnest flurry of questions. /Linearized 1 Soon a cadre of well-known actors (Casey Affleck, Dakota Johnson, Jason Segel) descended on Fairhope, Ala., to portray the Teagues and Faucheux. ( ( _Politics with Charles P. Pierce An insider's look at all the politics you can stomachand some you can't. The Politics Blog with Charles P. Pierce began in 2011, and has on nearly every weekday sinceand many weekends besidesbeen home to some of the most incisive, honest, funny, perceptive, historically literate, and often-cathartic political journalism in America. ( Written by Brad Ingelsby, based on an article by Matthew Teague. He covered C.I.A. People would stop me on the street to express their sorrow, and I would find myself stooping to match their emotional tone. Motion Picture Association rating, R -- restricted. As directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite from a screenplay by Brad Ingelsby, the emotionally wrenching but ultimately uplifting drama treats tragic events in a spare, matter-of-fact manner matched by restrained performances from the gifted cast. Screen version of a 2015 Esquire magazine article by Matthew Teague (Casey Affleck) recounting the unwavering and selfless support the journalist and his terminally ill wife (Dakota Johnson) received from their best friend (Jason Segel) who, as her death approached, moved in with the couple and helped to care for their two daughters (Isabella Kai We laughed at our inept drug smuggling. Matt writes an article called "The Friend", which he gives to Dane. It sounded like someone slowly dragging a cello bow across her vocal cords. ( Speaking Your Story: 1on1 with Matthew Teague (OUR FRIEND) - ScreenFish I couldn't make out what he said, so I rinsed off and stepped out of the shower. ( "I found it in the bathroom," I told him, "stuck on the wall opposite the toilet, at eye level when sitting.". ( Average Long-Term Mortgage Rate Falls A Fourth Straight Week . ( The film had its world premiere under its original title The Friend at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival on . "It's not your fault, baby," Nicole told her, leading her away. ( The Friend ( She seemed puzzled to find herself covered in hot excrement and tried with her bare hands to contain it. "[13] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Eventually I started to notice something strange: little bits of half-digested food emerging from Nicole's wounds. We may earn a commission from these links. xref A long while later she returned and lay beside me. I conceded. "isp[uU)um>[hQ@rx>#_%r+ #.rhkk ( /E 119809 ( She was unrecognizable with hatred. In January 2019, it was announced Casey Affleck, Dakota Johnson, Jason Segel and Jake Owen had been cast in the drama film The Friend, with Gabriela Cowperthwaite directing from a screenplay by Brad Ingelsby, based upon an Esquire article by Matthew Teague. What her life lacked in length, it made up for in height. So when she held up the photo of him with a Mohawk and laughed"Look! ( Then I would repack new pieces of ribbon into the holes, folding them in, spiraling them inside her, while she wept and begged me to just skip it, please, this one time. "Combined. It wasn't for me, he said. "I see it now," she said. By The Numbers: How Many Calls Did Escambia Fire Rescue Answer Last Month? ( Full article: 'A whole society, with its own economic system': the ( I tried to pull jeans onto my wet legs as I stumbled down the stairs, and just before I made it to the bedroom I heard Nicole's rasping breath. hi1"=wQ1[ zvt a$U/qlNGjO6q 50V@8!|nYvqiHHi 9rOLgn:^`I=z~~ HZ2r \}FGRv@ :,0#,+0zH(HAA=>P}\Z?, hx5!Es?ZP9.&r?Zmyp ,FrW4C+SNV!qi:1.7FO#-(4sCN -4R)h( ( J(=M eqOU 2*P(((((((((((((((Z;ytr#?EfFs -?u$m_Zx&H/C <1 e?}z>h9sY g&!7mc6w3D But what really took me aback was how emotional the audience was. 0J4j*P>}~ ( OllGr$*@!ta qWY6:zTE{ I kept that a secret, though. May 17th, 2015 10:53 am, emschick on ( ( ( She was Creek Indian, and I had never seen her cheekbones so proud, her eyes so defiant. @]L69kc3jXZI)7J_0~8:,mcdXbOSg>iw7v3@Ze\XQI}Aajet[r%r\F *jf_W7, hyDbC{`O p=:@5R 32 h!U,Y[f $A + VKmu4.f\p ###-k_g-$lN9;Eak>"m%%tX9x ;`zwv@FA MEsjZ.,?B0W%1 x#"TpWb'[y 3: Yc1Q Y{kl1;}w 13 0 obj ( During those times, Nicole was adrift on an opiate sea. agTDPf; ^`4 3 O)=u2:7b%g4F"bF^'A6]H6n7g=( (4c$qH. % Only now can I look back on the fullness of our affection; at the time I could see nothing but one wound at a time, a hole the size of a dime, into which I needed to pack a fistful of material. ( ( ( The Friend, adapted by Brad Ingelsby, tells the true story of Nicole (Johnson) and Matthew Teague (Affleck), whose friend Dane (Segel) puts his own life on hold and moves into the Teague family . One night, she called to me and said she needed help to the bathroom. I reached to help and she pushed me away. The most obvious manifestation of her illness, aside from weight loss, were the wounds. In it, Teague details how his best friend . People would drop in to see her and she would sit up, beaming. ( NEW YORK (CNS) -- In 2015, Esquire magazine published Matthew Teague's article "The Friend: Love Is Not a Big Enough Word." In it, the globetrotting journalist focused on a personal story far removed from his usual international beat, recounting the unwavering and selfless support he and his late wife, Nicole, had received, during her terminal illness, from the best buddy they shared in common . ( ( His name is Dane Faucheux, and I remember noting, even in the midst of a mental fugue: Dane's a lot stronger than I realized. Yet, if you see it onscreen, people are going to throw up their popcorn and run from the theater.. Meanwhile, Dane remains in New Orleans working dead-end jobs. Following Nicole's funeral, Dane confines himself to his room and grieves alone. ( Nicole Teague was diagnosed with Stage IIIc Ovarian Cancer in 2012. Now, with the release of the new film Our Friend, Teague has the opportunity to share his story onscreen.Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Our Friend recounts Teague's real-life journey during the death of his wife.After his wife, Nicole (Dakota Johnson) has been diagnosed with cancer, Matthew (played by Casey Affleck) struggles to balance meeting her needs and raising their daughters. BEST CAME TO HELP OUT A couptE WEEKS. When visitors came, though, we could see it reflected in their faces, or when her shirt slipped to the side, exposing her collarbone. After two years of horror, the girls and I felt like we had escaped something. ( ", Julia is a kind woman, but honest. Matthew Teague talks 'Our Friend' - YouTube ( From outside the bedroom door, I would overhear him talking with Nicole about my exhausted mental state, which seemed absurd considering her condition. ( ( Teague's wife Nicole. ( /Filter /FlateDecode . Here's the official synopsis: Our Friend tells the inspiring and extraordinary true story of the Teague familyjournalist Matt (Casey Affleck), his vibrant wife Nicole (Dakota Johnson) and their . "Maybe. ( No one ever told me the truth about it, not once. ( ( ( Then medical supplies started to arrive. His name is Dane Faucheux, fiend WIFE was JUST T THEY HAD Two LITTLE GIRLS. "That may have been the last one," Faith said. ( She just stopped. May 17th, 2015 5:39 pm, Charltte on There was no stopping it. He pulled out of the driveway, and I just stood there in the yard for a long time, wondering what to do, my eyes all wet. He had carved a Mohawk of his own to match hers. So while the nurses watched and advised me, I started giving my wife the injections that would, in a sense, finish her life. These physical horrors, though, were nothing compared to what would come. ( Her impending death stripped our relationship of every external measure of fairness. ( I helped them with their homework. the friend article by matthew teague pdfhorseback riding on the beach naples, fl. "It's not your fault. Following her surgery, the doctor reveals to Matt that Nicole's cancer has spread and gives her approximately six months to live. 2 Mar 2023 | by Elinor Smallman He moved to the edge of the rocks to jump, and I found myself on my feet, clapping and cheering and wishing the sun would stop setting, and these young women would never age or fall ill or die, and Dane could hang there in space for the rest of time, a portrait of readiness and compassion. the friend article by matthew teague pdfterry dubrow children. Inside, I would wrap a blanket around my head, stuff it into my mouth, lie down and bury my head in a pile of dirty clothes, and scream. ( ( ( "It'll be weird, though, because you'll be married by then.". Its purpose now was to keep her abdomen from coming apart altogether. Recognizing their need for help, Dane offers to stay with them for a few weeks. So I lifted her head and then her back, straightened her head, moved one leg off the bed and then the other, finally standing her up. Even days. ( ( On this particular day, she had asked me to make her a turkey sandwich, which I did and then brought into the bedroom. =MyTSLYzc(q )6zA9# A crayon scrawl. Simpson's Social Circle, What No One Could Tell Me About Male Breast Cancer, Charleston Shooting: We Need to Talk About This. Our Friend 's Dane Faucheux & Matthew Teague Are As Close As Ever - Bustle Outside, their best friend Dane Faucheux keeps the children company. We all tried to ignore the clear tube pumping feces up from her bowels and out her nose. Her face relaxed. . ( %%EOF ( When the author's wife was dying, his best friend moved in. The cancer was everywhere, and the parts of dying that nobody talks about were about to start. Haldol was designed as an antischizophrenic drug in the 1950s, at the peak of the mental-institution boom in America. When visitors came, Nicole could draw herself up and present a model of grace and fearlessnessthe same for online forums and Facebook. The site's critics consensus reads: "Our Friend's occasionally frustrating approach to dramatizing its fact-based story is often offset by a trio of starring performances led by a never-better Jason Segel. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. ( trailer When it happened to my beloved, I lost my footing in more than one way." Teague's beloved is Nicole, his 34-year-old wife and mother of their two daughters who is dying of cancer. ( ( Don't read if you're not in a good place emotionally. ( "I guess I'm not dying fast enough.". ( ( She wanted to be the grand marshal of a Mardi Gras parade. Are we sunk? ( I took over the rest. She looked up with wet eyes and smiled. ( I have the way the surgeon's voice shook. ( After each surgery, her skin was slower to heal, and finally a surgeon asked me if I knew about wound-packing. Her stomach belched up a geyser of yellow crap, which flowed down her sides onto the bed. ( The actress Kristen Stewart was seated behind him, and hearing her sniffle was additional affirmation everything was going to be OK. ( Focusing on six states - Arizona, Georgia . The tiled floor of lifemorals, ethics, even lawsbecame a shifting and relative thing. Something in me broke. He put her in a basket with a blanket in his car and searched for an open animal clinic. 'The Friend' Gets Release Date In Roadside Attractions - Deadline she asked me. For the first time in two years, I felt hope. You are both. ( ( One night, Faith alerts them of Nicole's slowing heart rate, and they take her to the beach to watch one final sunrise. "[16] Conversely, Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "So much of the unpleasantness has been scrubbed from the picture, until what remains is precisely the kind of dishonest, sanitized no-help-to-anyone TV-movie version of death that inspired Teague to set the record straight in the first place. He laughed. Why was there so little milk in the refrigerator? ( To this day, he receives impassioned, heartbreaking letters. ." His wife was just thirty-four. They were heartbreaking. One afternoon, a group of church ladies arrived. ( ( That one pump recorded more than twenty thousand milligrams poured into Nicole. startxref zpOFGzT1w.Z$ _99lmmh$aT@1Ee,C "Yes, ma'am," he said. ( ( So to have my own story used to beat up my own story was really painful., Cowperthwaite felt the wrath too, saying the early reviews just took the wind out of me. But the director, who has made four films including the BAFTA-nominated documentary Blackfish, has had more experience handling criticism. From her perspective, he must have seemed disloyal. ( 0000000979 00000 n Part III will conclude by offering an . Dane said. new york in 2015, esquire magazine published matthew teague's article "the friend: love is not a big enough word. The Motion Picture Association rating is R -- restricted. The National Journal has the story of a one proponent committed to furthering the use of the device in Colorado to prevent teenage pregnancies. ( She shed weight, but we expected that. I had no answer and every answer. >> "For your girls," he said. She started entertaining visitors. ( Quakers and mental health: Mike Wash, former trustee director at The Retreat, speaks his mind. ( These potions interrupted the signals between her mind and body, along with everything else in the physical world; her hallucinations disturbed Dane and me and would have terrified the girls. It stars Jason Segel, Dakota Johnson, and Casey Affleck.. Eye - 3 March 2023. Nicole's pulse had faded days ago, to the point where no one could feel it. 'Our Friend' Review: A Saintly Jason Segel Helps a Couple - Variety ( We had survived an endless winter and entered into an existential springtime. ( ( ( The Friend: Love Is Not a Big Enough Word His wife was just thirty-four. ( The cancer was everywhere, and the parts of dying that nobody talks about were about to start. She was forcing me to have a talk with my daughters that would link cancer and death, and I wasn't prepared yet. Afterward, we would sit in the dark for hours, sometimes in silence, but usually discussing the day's interactions with Nicole. ( ( "The Friend." When Matthew Teague's wife started dying from cancer, his "Give me a Mohawk.". Today Teague still bristles at this criticism. Teague M. The Friend. ( Our Friend Matthew Teague Author of the article that inspired - YouTube At one point, he visited a pet shop with a friend, and she alternated between picking up the puppies and kittens. ( ( The hook of The Friend. As she unwound the tape, it stuck to her hands, to itself, to her belly. I watched, speechless, as she pulled off the last of the gauze and made her way to the shower, dribbling stool and acid onto the floor as she walked. They seemed impossibly joyful and healthy, and we could hear them laughing above the sound of the water. ( ( ( In The Steal, veteran journalists Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague offer a week-by-week, state-by-state account of the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Finally, when she tried to send money to someone in Iraq, I changed our accounts without telling her. I realized then that the last honest person to describe death may be whoever came up with "croaking. In: Holt S, The American Society of Magazine Editors (ed. ( ( - - -Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.- - -CAPSULE REVIEW"Our Friend" (Gravitas Ventures)Screen version of a 2015 Esquire magazine article by Matthew Teague (Casey Affleck) recounting the unwavering and selfless support the journalist and his terminally ill wife (Dakota Johnson) received from their best friend (Jason Segel) who, as her death approached, moved in with the couple and helped to care for their two daughters (Isabella Kai Rice and Violet McGraw). 0000000792 00000 n A few times Molly got up and went out to join him. And I have an image of the hospital floor, up close. But human bodies defy sterility, with our holes and our sloughing and our fingernails and our wet places. The Friend May 1 2015 MATTHEW TEAGUE Daymon Gardner View Article Pages Features The Friend His wife was just thirty-four. ( ( ( ( saturation of bodies into darkness. She drifted away on Haldol, an ocean measured in milliliters, no longer calling for food or water, which meant the volcano of her stomach stopped erupting. ( ( I still have a few memories. Was it spoiled? ( I was in a panic because I didnt know what was going to happen to this thing that is so precious to me, Teague said. Young women are not supposed to die of cancer in their home while their small children are in the next room. It stars Jason Segel, Dakota Johnson, and Casey Affleck. Nicole Teague Obituary (2014) - Fairhope, AL - Mobile Register and By matthew teague / photographs by daymon gardner. It's a devastating confession of the last years of his wife . The 2019 Toronto Film Festival accepted the film and gave it a coveted opening-weekend slot. Nicole prepares a bucket list which Matt and Dane help her accomplish; such as sitting as Grand Marshal of the Mardi Gras parade, swimming in a historic fountain with all of her friends, and writing letters to her daughters for future life events. ( We spent that Christmas season in the hospital. [11] It was retitled Our Friend, and released on January 22, 2021. Nicole's illness had cost Dane; at thirty-six, he had given up a management position and a girlfriend back in New Orleans. The friend by matthew teague. ( Months to live. Teague, M. 2016. Sometimes at night, Nicole would wake howling and sweating, with a twist in her bowels. ( First he tried his hand at writing the screenplay himself. Nicole's friends and family visit with her one last time. ( Thanks OP 119 [deleted] 8 yr. ago ( together about the glue of this life, the sticky. ( "I am still a valid person," she seethed when I asked her about the packages. The dressing on Nicole's abdomen became a massive, complex thing that required specialist nurses to come in every couple days and assemble it as a team. On that day, he stopped as he climbed into his car. ( Food. Our Friend movie review & film summary (2021) | Roger Ebert ( When I finished, I would lie next to her and use sterile cotton balls to soak up her tears. It had never occurred to him to do nothing. I moved to switch off the gas and Nicole glared. Dane decided to move in around Christmas 2013, on the night our dog died. The Friend Is a Radically Empathetic Cancer Drama | Vanity Fair "After that, you'll have to get up.". "Like somebody dipped a paintbrush in cancer and flicked it around her abdomen." She had a jar-a-day habit. ( Matthew Teague always heard that if he wanted to be a writer, he needed to live in New York City. ( /Filter /DCTDecode Tears for fears: 'Our Friend' a cryfest that could have been better ( << I think I did, at least; I was trying to zip up my pants before entering the room, where Dane stood with two nurses. Then he would sit up with our girls until we came home. >> Matthew Teague's "The Friend: Love Is Not a Big Enough Word" tells the story of both those abstract concepts love and death through wrenching anecdotal experience. ( Her hands stopped, and I looked up to her face. This book arose from a conference held at Woodbrooke in 2019, at which experienced conciliators and younger peace activists came together. and took off his shirt. Sometimes hours later, sometimes weeks. ( ( ( You put your hand on her shoulder, or you put your hand on his shoulder. 1. ( Seated inside the Princess of Wales Theater, Teague was a flurry of nerves, held together only by sheer will and the help of a friend and fellow journalist, Tom Junod, who was also the subject of a Hollywood movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, about his unlikely relationship with Fred Rogers. In 2015, journalist Matthew Teague published a piece in Esquire that detailed the worst time in his life. Yet, despite his carefully calibrated work, success in Hollywood is never a guarantee. ( They had two little girls. >> ( ( Our Friend is a 2019 American biographical drama film directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and written by Brad Ingelsby, based on Matthew Teague's 2015 Esquire article "The Friend: Love Is Not a Big Enough Word". /Pages 10 0 R ( In the early months of 2014, Dane and I cleaned ceaselesslythe house, the children, me, the medical equipment, Nicole herself. Through long term ethnographic study of local and translocal DIY scenes, including shows, spaces, and touring practices, I reveal a plethora of reciprocal musical and extra-musical activities that enable the creation of alternative DIY worlds. Until Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. >> ( ( ( ( $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? The only remarkable element was Dane. Our Friend is based on the true story of the Teague family, which was originally an article written by Matthew Teague himself for Esquire in 2015. I stopped eating and drinking. Or I would retreat to one of the girls' bedrooms upstairs, where she could not follow. "mmWIxzy =lvl/^G^s|P|bc&~ow <=5m: F0>\G'1rla 'DAj0LCU:" 4JK0-y1.C^90| U4cE=MMqRpGeU[e+TV ,u`j/;0S@1 0@5u1cc7ie;=C[J?bpRc>\N0fe=Ln%XCtL''UvBk1@]V('*0ibJJb Decisions and depression. And clothing. Ju '8 A minute-by-minute account of one of the worst sailing disasters in American history. The Friend Published by Columbia University Press 2016 The Friend From the book The Best American Magazine Writing 2016 Matthew Teague https://doi.org/10.7312/asme16957-013 Cite this Share this You currently have no access to view or download this content. Nicole rallied. operatives in Pakistan, famine in Somalia, double agents in Northern Ireland. endobj /L 1042448 ( TV Shows. %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz I knew that every moment of enjoyment in this forest would cost me later in guilt. I confessed to him one night that a dark fantasy had flickered through my mind earlier involving a spoon and mayonnaise. One morning, she staggered into the kitchen, shocking us all, and announced that she planned to make eggs for the girls. ( Ju '8 Matthew Teague Longform "I got this on my pillow," Dane said one night. We couldn't figure out how she was doing it. You need this.". The friend is indefinite. January 22, 2021 ' Our Friend ' is a biographical film that shares with the world a unique story about friendship and resilience. ( (The family still lives in the same house. 'Our Friend' is a movie based on the true story of Matthew and Nicole Teague. ( ( So we stood watching her for a couple minutes. so tired, no one ever notices the sleeping bags. But even when Dane didn't know I was watching, he averted his gaze from her body, and he accepted her smile as nothing more than a small gift. Love is not a big-enough word. Dane finally decides to go home after putting his life on hold to live with the Teague family for over fourteen months. ( But his greatest work may be the essay he wrote in 2015 for Esquire magazine, titled The Friend. Teague dedicated some 6,000 words to the arduous two years he spent caring for his wife, Nicole, who learned she had terminal cancer at age 34. ( ( ( ( Instead I said, "We don't know how deep the water is.". ( } !1AQa"q2#BR$3br Most of September 17, 2012, has evaporated from my mind. ( Taken together, though, the surgeries and chemicals all form a smear that can't be taken apart and examined. Matt works as a war correspondent and spends months overseas, putting a strain on the family. ( BY MATTHEW TEAGUE 0 0000000645 00000 n In a season of butchery and wreckage and defeat, she had triumphed. She simply didn't breathe again. The Friend by Matt Hart | Poetry Magazine The importance of cherishing the invaluable individuals in one's life is apparent in Matthew Teague's personal journey of his wife's battle against cancer and a genuine friendship.