On June 10th David Hartstein passed away in hospital in Boston.
We knew him here as "Kama, the Eternally Hopeful", an Eldar elf of aristocratic background. If memory serves, he joined the UV way back in 1999, and his UV elven persona featured in many of the stories and yarns our community posted over the years, always as a witty, erudite and gentlemanly character with nearly the same obsession about tea as my own alter ego Turjan.
And so he was IRL too - always polite, ever the gentleman, and with an ever ready dry and clever wit. And yes, like me he did indeed have a real life obsession with tea. But there was something that not too many in our Village knew : David suffered from a rare blood condition, one where left unchecked, his bone marrow would eventually literally try to turn his blood cells into bone.
In the years I knew him, David tried several experimental drugs, but ultimately he was left with only one choice - a bone marrow transplant. Without that, his chances of survival were zero. Even with it, his chances were still far from 100%. If a donor could be found, he'd face radiation and chemotherapy to kill off his own marrow, then undergo the transplant procedure, remain on anti-rejection drugs... a daunting prospect.
But David was nothing if not a fighter, so in April this year when he learned a donor had been found, he went into hospital to begin the procedure. And all was going well - after the transplant his blood profile was near normal for the first time in decades. However, the procedure had also left his immune system in a weakened state, and sadly he contracted pneumonia. He fought on, and the medical staff fought alongside him, but in the end the fight was lost.
David left us on Monday night.
As many UVers will remember, David was an enthusiastic fan of Tolkien's writings, especially those about elves. In 2003 he came to stay with me in England, and together we walked the very paths where Tolkien himself had wandered years before, taking inspiration from the English countryside. I still remember David's smile as he strode happily through the fields - it was as if for a moment his illness had vanished, swept away by his sheer love for nature and elves and Tolkien's vision.
The other thing David loved was Doctor Who. As a child he and a friend used to challenge each other to Doctor Who trivia quizzes on their daily journey to and from school. That passion for all things Whovian never left him, so when the series was resurrected, he was a happy man indeed. Moreso when David Tennant took up the mantle of The Doctor, for some said our David himself bore more than a slight resemblance to the new Tennant Doctor!
David liked to attend Dragon Con, and in 2007 he siezed the chance to go dressed as the tenth Doctor. And he became quite the centre of attention! Many folk did a double take and stopped to ask for photos to be taken alongside him. David made many new friends there, and there's no doubt that helped keep him going in the ongoing battle with his condition.
I raise a cup of PG Tips tea to him now, and imagine him whizzing off through time and space in his own TARDIS, and landing on a world filled with mallorn trees, sweet music, and of course, dancing elven beauties.
David "Kama" Hartstein was a man of many dreams, and while a physical body may fail, it's not so easy to kill a dream. Rest in peace old chum, you will not be forgotten.
