In my last job one of my salesmen started to get unreliable and call in sick, the lads started to call him 'sicknote', he took it in good humour, and he was a real character, and a pleasure to have on the teamin July '07 few months after this all started he decided to get a proper health check, only to be told it was likely an ulcer, a few days later feeling very ill he went back to be to he had a problem with his gall bladder and it would need surgery, it all dragged on a few more weeks when eventually late Aug they told him he actually had Pancreatic Cancer at an advanced stage and terminal, suffice to say he was devastated, sadly he died in early Dec aged 26, he never lost his humour even though he was in pain, it's was the hardest thing I have had to deal with particularly as I have son's in their early 20's. As he had no dad I would visit him in hospital, I don't particularly get emotional, but for days after his death I was a bit of a wreck Blushing
There's not much you can do in these situations, but I did manage to raise