Rest in peace my friend

I was woken today with the news that a very dear friend had passed away early this morning.

I first met Than, better known as Chocolate, in August last year when he was persuaded through the underhanded use of subliminal messages to come along to a Browncoats Shindig. In the short time since then he had become a good friend to me and to many of the Serenity Oz forum community.

Chocky was admitted to hospital only a couple of weeks ago and was diagnosed with lung cancer a week later, the doctors telling him he had a matter of months left. This was the last in a series of serious health problems for him. Most of the people on the forum were not aware of Chocky's illness, he was a very private person and didn't want any fuss made over him. His death this morning was totally unexpected, a number of us had spoken to him the day before and had arranged to go and visit him today.

I have spent the day with fellow forum members as we had pre-existing plans to meet for yum cha and a visit to The Rocks. We went ahead with those plans and it was good to have the time together to share our grief and remember Chocky. We raised our glasses to him at The Orient, the same pub in which we had all had the privilege to meet with Joss Whedon at an informal beer drinking session.

Tonight there have been many tributes to Chocky posted on the forum, our hearts are bruised and the loss is great. Chocky brought something special to our community and he will be sorely missed. There are not all that many photos of Chocky around, he wasn't fond of looking at himself, but a few have surfaced and are all the more precious for being rare.

Chocky speaking to Joss

Myself, Chocky and Dave

At the Browncoats Serenity Opening Weekend Picnic Shindig in Hyde Park

Dearest Chocky, thank you for being part of my life, I only wish we had had longer....