Diana passed away on Thursday, June 28, 2012.  The following note was written by her
beloved Richard Pitter, who took wonderful care of her during her illness.  They had recently moved to Oregon from the East Coast before Diana fell and was severely injured.

Diana suffered a fall on Feb 18 and was rushed to OHSU in Portland, which is the best place in the state for treating spinal injury. She underwent surgery on her spine two days later. She made some recovery from the spinal injury, but each time we tried to help her with therapy (so that she might gain wheelchair mobility), she fell into a crisis state (as I call it). In that state she had tremendous pain, which we could deal with, which resulted in much sleeping and confusion when she was awake, and she also had problems maintaining essential body functions. One day the nurse said she thought Diana wouldn't make it through the night. That was in March. Diana snapped out of that crisis state and enjoyed a week or two. In March and April, she could still move her left arm to touch her nose and hair, but she couldn't hold a brush. This frustrated her and she worked more on her physical therapy exercises--sometimes I would wake up at 2 or 3 AM and see her working on range of motion exercises. Diana went into and snapped out of a second crisis state, then she entered a state of slow decline. The care was marvelous, and her friends in the community provided her with tremendous happiness when they visited. In the end, though, her body shut down. The angels took her clawing and screaming to the gates of heaven. She loved her family and friends here, and she believed she had been given the gift of survival from pancreatic cancer so that she could help others who needed help. 

Rest in peace, Diana.