Well, Mary did it her way right to the end. She passed away yesterday, but not before giving me specific instructions on what she expected Bryan, Melissa, and me to do. As you all know, Mary was a special person who always put others first and cared deeply for everyone she touched. She will be missed by all. 

We will be having a Mass for Mary on Monday, March 20 at St. William’s Catholic Church in Naples at 10 AM. In lieu of flowers, her request was that donations may be made to the Shelter for Abused Women & Children in Naples (www.naplesshelter.org, 239 775-3862 x205), or the Hospice of Naples, 1095 Whippoorwill Lane, Naples, FL 34105.

On behalf of my family, thank you for your support.


Denny McGonigal
Corporate Vice President
Medline Industries Inc.
847-949-3035

-----Original Message-----
From: McGonigal , Bryan
Sent: Tue 3/14/2006 4:32 PM
Subject: Update on Mary McGonigal


It’s been quite hectic the past few days, but I have a bit of break time right now – so myself and my father (Denny) can provide you with the latest news on my mom’s condition.  Please feel free to forward to anyone who would be interested as I have only sent it to a few people via our new webmail system.  I will try to keep it brief:

Late Sunday night my dad called me at home to say that he was checking my mother into the Hospice of Naples.  After feeling pretty good just a couple days prior, her heath seemed to deteriorate quickly over the weekend.  There was actually great concern that she might not last through the evening.  My sister along with her husband and eight-month old daughter happened to already be there as they were visiting for the weekend.   I booked a flight at 11:30 PM that night for an early morning departure on Monday.

The good news is that she made it through the evening, and with the help of some medication was feeling a bit better on Monday.  Even today (Tuesday 3/14) she has been more talkative and seemingly much more her old self.  Yes, she is confined to her bed and physically quite weak, but mentally there is no question that she’s still “with it.”

Unfortunately the reality of the situation is that after a courageous two-year battle with ovarian cancer that was “beating the odds” as her primary physician has stated, she is not going to win the fight.  We consulted with the doctors today, and the best estimate they can give is that she probably has about two more weeks to live.  Could be a bit longer, could be a bit shorter, but there’s no good solution that will help her avoid the inevitable.  Further treatments would potentially project quite a bit of suffering on her, and pending any major miracles would only extend her life a very short time at best.

It’s been under my mom’s directive that when the situation got to this point to use hospice as opposed to a hospital.  She’s been very clear about not wanting to be kept alive by artificial methods, and has strongly opposed going back to hospitals for treatments that she can no longer tolerate, either physically or mentally.  I’ve known her for . . . well . . . forty years, and my dad has obviously been around her longer.   We are well aware how difficult it is to argue with her on just about anything.  In this particular instance she is, as usual, correct.  Right now, hospice is making her comfortable and helping take the pain away so that she can live out her remaining days in peace with her immediate family.

On behalf of my entire family I sincerely thank everyone for all of the concern, well wishes and prayers during these extremely difficult times.  I will keep you updated.

Thank you.

Bryan McGonigal
Corporate Marketing
Medline Industries, Inc.
847-949-2298
bmcgonigal@medline.com