Katherine Louise McAfee, known to me as Aunt Katy, passed away in the hospital on Friday, May 12, 2014. Yesterday. The cause of death is officially pneumonia, but it was the cancer that made her so weak that pneumonia could get her. Aunt Katy was 66 and while that’s not young, it’s not really old, either.

For the past three seasons, I’ve worn a pink ribbon on my cap to raise awareness for breast cancer. I’ve also donated money to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. And I’ve watched Aunt Katy battle this horrible disease. Twice it looked like she was winning, but then the cancer would be back. And the treatment would begin again. This time, while she was receiving her chemotherapy treatments, she got sick. And her system was too weak to handle it.

Aunt Katy was fun. She would sometimes catch me when I threw off the mound my dad built. But that’s not her secret. Aunt Katy played video games. And she played them well. Old games, new games, she could pick up a game she’d never seen and be beating it in a couple of days. One of the things I looked forward to when Alex and I visited her house was her vast collection of games. Games you never heard of and game systems they don’t make anymore. The last time I was at her house, we played some NEBL 2013 All Star and she kicked my butt. I don’t quite have the hang of pitching in that game, so having Alex Williams didn’t help me.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and throughout the league, teams will be conducting activities to raise breast cancer awareness. Some teams will use pink bats. Some teams will wear special jerseys. Some teams will wear pink ribbons on their jerseys and have pink wristbands. And I’ll be one of them, though I don’t pitch till Monday. The truth is, there are some things more powerful than science and medicine and cancer is one of them. And anything we can do to help change that is important.

Aunt Katy and i used to exchange e-mails. The last thing we talked about, before she went to the hospital was her cats. I guess they’ll go somewhere now. I think her friend Lydia was taking care of them while Aunt Katy was in the hospital but they’ll need a permanent home. Katy had just gotten all their shots and stuff so they could continue to go outside periodically. She was debating about turning them into indoor cats to save the money on their vaccinations. I told her to do what she wanted and that I’ve got plenty of money. Benjamin and Fiona are fine feline citizens (okay, Benjamin nips when he doesn’t get enough attention) and if they like it outside, they should be able to go.

I wish we’d've talked about something more important. There is no one else in the world like Aunt Katy. And now she’s gone. There’s a hole in my life that can’t be filled. Aunt Katy, I know you can read this. They have to have the internet in heaven. I love you.