Rudy Barbosa , 40, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, passed on March 16, 2023. Rudy was born on October 23, 1982.

For six years, Ruby Dossantos Barbosa underwent treatment for a rare cancer. Before dying, he wrote his own obituary, a grateful reflection of his life that also includes his candid thoughts about how people talk about cancer. 

“I’ll get this out of the way early: Cancer killed me. I know we all skim through the obits curious to know each person’s cause of death,” Barbosa, 40, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, wrote in his obituary. “After 6-plus years of treatments, anxiety, pain and occasional moments of hope it came down to the brutal truth that my body could no longer carry on.”