2024 Year In Review

William Wen
6 min readDec 23, 2024

Allyson is usually the one who writes our family’s year in review with Christmas cards. As she is no longer with us, it’s up to me this year. Instead of traditionally mailing out Christmas cards, I’ll write our 2024 here and post to family and friends on social media. Hope you don’t mind.

Spring

Our 2024 started like the previous year. Allyson had lots of chemo therapy and doctor appointments for her Ovarian Cancer. Jack came back to visit during Taiwan’s Lunar New Year break. Allyson’s mom Joann came to visit at the same time.

Her favorite hotpot for Valentines Day

Allyson went to the Portland Pokemon Regionals in January and the Vancouver Regionals in March.

Alex was busy with Model United Nations, where he attended debates in February and April, and won Best Delegate.

Summer

Allyson’s summer started with Alex attending the Naval Academy’s Summer Seminar in Annapolis, Maryland. Her parents drove down to see them and took Allyson back to New Jersey for a visit. Allyson got to see her cousins Bob and Molly and a bunch of friends back home.

Allyson with Bob and Molly

Jack found an apartment in Taipei, a cozy 1 bedroom apartment a short walk from campus. Rather than coming home for the summer, the boys took a 3 week Mandarin camp in Taiwan.

Jack and Alex shared a dorm room with two other students, and they both said that they really enjoyed the freedom of independence and being on their own.

Jack, Alex, and Allyson on Taipei subway

Allyson stayed at her own hotel in Ximending. Her friend Cari and Cari’s son Jackson flew to Taipei to hang out. They had to dodge Typhoon Gaemi which cut short their visit, but they still had a great time.

Allyson, Cari, and Jackson

After the mandarin camp, the five of them went to Singapore for a couple of days. Before the trip, Allyson and I rewatched Crazy Rich Asians, so she marked and went to all the different locations from the movie, including the “Bok Bok Chicken” street.

Bok Bok!

In Singapore, Allyson and the boys met up with our friends Jeremy, Shirlene, and their family for a day on Sentosa Island and ate delicious chilli crabs.

I stayed home to take care of the dogs. Ironically, my dad and step mom were traveling in Canada, and came down to Seattle for a visit. Plus, I wanted Allyson and the boys to travel the world and live life to the fullest.

Fall

After Allyson and Alex returned from Taiwan, she went to Pokemon World Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii. This is when her ascites (accumulation of bodily fluids) returned. She experienced shortness of breath. After she returned from Hawaii, she had fluids drained around both lungs.

Dinner with friends in Hawaii

I had planned to be in Taiwan for the month of October as it was my father’s 80th birthday, my birthday, and Jack’s birthday. I also planned a motorcycle trip with Patrick. It would be his first time in Taiwan.

The three October birthday boys

I told Allyson that if she needed me, I can fly back right after the motorcycle trip, cutting my trip in half. She never did ask me to come home early. I think she wanted me to celebrate Jack’s birthday with him at the end of October. Incidentally, Allyson’s third round of chemo was to begin on the day I fly home.

While in Taiwan, I booked an impromptu trip to Palawan Island, Philippines to visit Percy. He was a gracious host and showed me a great time even though he was still working Seattle hours at night.

The motorcycle trip was a huge success. Patrick and I dodged Typhoons Krathon and Kong-rey, and was shaken by two magnitude 4.3 earthquakes in Hualien. We rode up the mountains to 10,000+ ft, then down through Taroko Gorge. We saw both stunning scenery as well as incredulous devastation from April’s big 7.4 magnitude earthquake.

Hehuan Mountain, Wuling Peak, elevation 3275 meters

My dad, me, and Jack got to celebrate our birthdays together. As fun as it was in Taiwan, I was getting homesick. Back home, Allyson’s ascites had gotten worse. She wasn’t eating much, and her bodily waste had noticeably reduced.

Winter

After being unable to schedule an appointment with the kidney clinic, we went to the ER at Overlake in Bellevue. The ascites, a side effect of cancer, was causing a blockage between her kidneys and bladder. This should be addressed by a routine stent surgery.

Allyson looked good after the operation. She was able to eat and drink on her own. Alex and I would visit her during the day and I thought she would come home soon.

The next day, Allyson threw up, and began a downward spiral that her body couldn’t recover from. Not only was she declining physically, her mind was too. Allyson’s decline was eerily similar to my mom’s, and when the doctors concurred my gut feeling, I notified family to come as soon as possible.

A few days later, Allyson’s mom, dad, childhood friend Cari, and I made the difficult decision to put Allyson on hospice. That was the hardest decision of my life. When Allyson and I wrote our wills 20 years ago, we didn’t think much of the Do-Not-Resuscitate directive. It was just words on paper. Now faced with the harsh reality, it broke my heart to do it.

Next morning, November 18, 2024, Allyson expired at 6:35am with Cari by her side. Joann, Alex, and I couldn’t get there in time. Jack joined us over a video call from Taiwan. Bob joined by phone. They were on their way too.

Following Allyson’s passing, the Seattle area was hit with hurricane force winds, known as the “bomb cyclone”. The storm knocked out power for six days. Despite that, Joann, Bob, Phil, Jack, my brother and sisters all came in town. We supported each other and were able to organize a proper service for Allyson at Sunset Hills.

Thanks Cari for taking this family picture

Many people have told me that the service was beautiful. The airiness of the memorial hall, the picture slideshow, the written tributes, and flower service all paid respect to Allyson and the life she lived. In the end, she was surrounded by those who loved and cared about her.

Last Goodbye with Mom

This past weekend was the Winter Solstice. The darkest days of the year. From now on, daylight will be longer and brighter. I think that’s a good metaphor for Jack, Alex and me.

Happy Holidays and see you all in 2025.

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William Wen
William Wen

Written by William Wen

25 years in tech | 13 years @ Google | Tesla Investor since 2013 | www.linkedin.com/in/wil-wen | twitter.com/wilwen2

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