MSI Press Blog

Every Earth Day, we’re reminded of the quiet power of planting trees—the way one life can ripple outward, sheltering, nourishing, and healing. For us, it’s not just a metaphor. It’s real. When Carl , a former forester and nature photographer (and MSI Press LLC typesetter and graphic artist), died of cancer of unknown primary, he chose to donate his body to Science Care so it could continue helping others through medical research or education. That final act of generosity didn’t end with science. Every year since, on the anniversary of his death, we receive a certificate: Science Care has planted a tree in Carl’s honor. Somewhere in the world, roots are digging deep, branches are reaching skyward, and green life is quietly unfolding—because of him. Carl taught us that giving doesn’t have to stop when a heartbeat does. That love can be rooted in memory and still grow. That Earth Day isn’t just about the planet—it’s about each other. So today, we plant. We remember. We believe in growth a...

  What some people leave behind when they die can help so many others -- either making  medical care possible for them or making medical care better for them.  In the first category is a young mother (age 38) who died of ovarian cancer. Her name was Casey Ryan MacIntyre, and her dying wish was to wipe out the medical debts of other people. Through a memorial page on the  RIP Medica Debt page, she, with the help of her survivors, has already wiped out over 100 million dollars in debt of those who cannot afford medical care. (Donations are still being solicited -- until December, it appears -- if you would like to donate.) Newsweek tells the story HERE . In the second category are those who donate organs. For the most part, the process for doing that is easy to follow; hospitals have staff members who follow up on those who have indicated they wish to donate (e.g., on their driver licenses) or through those they leave behind and will often contact the latter whether ...

  Last Tuesday marked one year since Carl Leaver, co-founder of MSI Press LLC, passed from cancer. On that day, while we did a number of things to commemorate the significance of his life and the year since he left us, of some import, as I mentioned that days, was receiving a note from Science Care that they had planted another tree, a year later, in his honor in a national forest. That act brings to mind the ways that one's contributions do not end with death. They continue. Not only in the relatives and family traditions one leaves behind but in many other ways as well. Science Care, which accepts whole body donations, facilitates contribution in the areas of research and medical student training. Similarly, those who donate organs, improve the ongoing lives of people who might otherwise have died or lived impaired lives. So many financial donations are given in the names of those who pass on as a form of memorial. Those donations to very worthwhile endeavors likely would not o...

Carl, so proud in his new, smaller, fully fitting Scott vest   Indeed, several months before Carl was diagnosed with advanced metastatic cancer (stage 4), he lost quite a bit of weight. Nearly 50 pounds overnight. Now, he was big, very big. Any weight loss, in our thinking at the time, was to be applauded. And so, he ordered s smaller Scott vest and showed off his new slimmer self. (Not slim, mind you, but slimmer -- he was still nearly 300 pounds when he died.) What we did not realize -- and I certainly wish we had is that such a weight loss is not to be celebrated. It is a sign of dying, or at least, of advanced cancer. Instead of showing off his success ("achieved" -- more accurately, "experienced" -- though he was not on a particularly regimented diet), he should have been rushing to his doctor and asking, "What is wrong with this picture?" Perhaps, hopefully, the doctor would have figured out the cancer diagnosis early enough to do something about it,...