Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
Yesterday, we told you briefly about the unexpected death of Phillyist co-Editor Star C. Foster over the weekend. Star "had been complaining of a pain in her foot, which she thought had to do with some bad moves she'd made at dancing class, but it turns out there was a tumor in her leg which metastasized and went to her heart. She had a seizure...her boyfriend Mike called for an ambulance, she had another seizure on the way to the hospital, and then died of a pulmonary embolism." Today, there's also an obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
We know this is a long shot, being in Toronto and all, but if any of you well-traveled folk or international readers happen to be in the Philadelphia area on Thursday, you're invited to attend Star's memorial service. Alternatively (and more feasible for most) the family is asking that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Star's name to the Star C. Foster Memorial Scholarship Fund at Central High School, Star's alma mater. Donations can be made to the Associate Alumni of Central High School (please make cheques payable to AACHS), P.O. Box 26580, Philadelphia PA 19141.
The family intends "that the scholarship, once it is set up, will allow an award to be given to a female student who is an aspiring writer to use for her college education." We can't think of a more noble way to honour Star's memory.
Photo from Star's boyfriend.
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Thank you, David and TOist, for all your support.
"Had a tumor in her leg which matastasized (sic) and moved to her heart"
My sympathies to her friends and family, but the sentence quoted above is impossible. For starters, see the definition of metastatis (ie. the cellular spread of cancer from one area of the body to another). Perhaps part of the tumor dislodged and travelled to her heart, causing an embolism? Perhaps it was a tumor-related blood clot?
Either way, sharing mis-information won't help anyone else who is in this situation.
Erin, I'm quoting directly from Phillyist's article on what happened. I don't know for sure what happened, so all I can do is take their word for it.
As for the definition itself, according to the OED, "metastasis" seems to be a more general term than what you've suggested; it is, instead,
Please send me an e-mail if you still feel that I've made a mistake.
I wanted to say thank you on behalf of my family for your support. And to clear up the confusion, it was a blood clot that cause the pulmonary embolism. it was never determined whether or not it was caused by a tumor, but I would guess that it was simply a blood clot. Star had previous problems with blood clots in her legs.
Happy holidays,
Debbie Foster (Star's Sister)