Cancer Blogger Lisa Bonchek Adams of Darien Died Friday

Lisa Bonchek Adams, a Darien resident and mother of three who tweeted and blogged for years about living with cancer after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, died Friday night at 9:45 p.m., surrounded by her family.

“The thousands upon thousands who knew and loved Lisa Bonchek Adams; whether in person or via Facebook, Twitter, or her website and blog read around the world; whether up close or from afar; will find it hard to believe that her steely will and indomitable spirit were finally overcome by the disease she had lived with for so many years, a post Saturday on her website stated.

Adams’ Twitter account had 15,300 followers and more than 176,000 tweets. She wrote that more than 10,000 visitors a day went to her website where her blog was located.

“Friends, Lisa died peacefully at 9:45 p.m.,” a 12:10 a.m. tweet on her Twitter account reads. “More on http://lisabadams.com . #RememberLisa and donate to http://mskcc.convio.net/site/TR?fr_id=1590&pg=fund&pxfid=27471 …”

The link is to a fundraising Web page set up in her honor (apparently before her death) on the website of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she was treated. The Web page states that $95,080 had been raised toward a goal of $100,000, with 617 donors as of Saturday morning.

The Saturday post on her website also stated:

“Lisa was cared for to the end by her beloved Dr. Chau Dang of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Lisa specifically asked that anyone who wishes to honor her memory do so with a contribution to her fund for breast cancer research at MSKCC.”

Adams wrote that she was ”diagnosed ‘early’ with DCIS and later with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast in December, 2006,” and within a year completed chemotherapy and had a double mastectomy. But in October 2012 she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.

“There is no cure for metastatic breast cancer,” Adams wrote. “The metastases (areas of breast cancer that have traveled from the original location) are what eventually kill people with breast cancer once the cancer eventually moves to vital organs.”

In her last blog post, March 1, Adams wrote: “Hi, Things have gotten exponentially harder in last few weeks.” She wrote about needing a catheter to drain fluid from her abdomen. “Still cannot walk — no change predicted in short order. We are installing ramps, bought wheelchair, etc. For now that is all I have energy to update but should give you sense of where things are. Xo, Lisa”

She was a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, class of 1991, where an auditorium was named after her.

In January 2014, former New York Times Editor Bill Keller and his wife, Emma Gilbey Keller (a breast cancer survivor) became the focus of a controversy after they both wrote about Adams’ blogging and tweeting.

Emma Keller criticized Adams for writing so much in detail about her treatment and experience with cancer. Her article in the Guardian newspaper became widely excoriated.

Bill Keller wrote in the New York Times about Adams’ aggressive cancer treatment, which contrasted with the option of ending treatment and turning to painkillers for a peaceful death. His piece was also widely excoriated, and, according to a Washington Post article, “both [Kellers] reaped a whirlwind of outrage,” including outrage from Adams.

Emma Keller later left her job with the Guardian after she admitted that she had quoted from email correspondence with Adams without getting Adams’ permission to publish the privately sent statements.

Adams wrote blog posts that appeared in the Huffington Post until May 2013, including one post about discussing her disease with her daughter and the possibility of death.

On Oct. 10, 2014, Adams updated the “About Me” page on her website, which concluded:

I am thankful for the doctors and scientists who provide me with medications, personal guidance, and research to rationally fight that which ails me.

I am grateful for my loving husband Clarke, my three children (now ages 16, 12, and 8), parents, friends, doctors, and my readers who have supported me and my chronicle here.

I’m glad you are joining me…

Everything is better with a friend.

Find a bit of beauty in the world today. Share it. If you can’t find it, create it. Some days this may be hard to do. Persevere.