Regarding causes (and this is from the “other side of the fence”), my father died a couple of years ago from one of the most dreaded cancers, pancreatic cancer. That form of cancer is aggressive and usually inoperable by the time it’s caught, from what I understand. There is no obvious “why” in his case. He led a healthy lifestyle, and as far as we know there was no family history of it. It came as a complete surprise to everyone. He was 85 when diagnosed and lived for another 18 months, which was about 6 months longer than his doctor expected. His father had lived to be 99, and he once quipped to me, “I always thought I would live at least that long and even had a chance of beating him.”