Hunt and Peck

Gretchen Piscotty, mother of former Cardinal Stephen Piscotty, has passed away - A Hunt and Peck

Thoughts go out to the Piscotty family.

By lil_scooter93 May 8, 2018, 12:22pm EDT

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MLB: St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates

Our time in this world is not long enough. It is one of the cruel facts of mortality. One day our loved ones must leave us and no matter how much time we have spent together, it is just never enough, is it?

In May of 2017 Gretchen Piscotty, mother of then-Cardinal Stephen Piscotty, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease, according the ALS Association ALS, that is “a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.” This causes a loss of voluntary muscle movement, which ultimately leads to the inability to walk, speak, eat, or even breathe. The disease is progressive and there is no cure. A little less than a year later, on Sunday, May 6, 2018, Gretchen Piscotty passed away.

ESPN released a feature on the Piscotty family. It is very moving.

"It's important to spend time with her, because we're running out of it."

Being traded from the Cardinals to the A's in 2017 meant that Stephen Piscotty could be closer to his mother who has ALS: pic.twitter.com/k7hPfpUV0H
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 6, 2018

This Sunday is a day to honor and thank our mothers and the mother-figures in our lives. Although the holiday has become more of a gimmick throughout the years - a greeting card holiday as people say - it is a good opportunity for those of us fortunate enough to have mothers and mother-figures or just people that care about us in our lives to remind ourselves how lucky we are. As Noah Syndergaard so thoughtfully wrote:

Perspective is realizing the most important things in life are not wins, losses, ERA, angry fans on twitter, or meaningless things. I love you Mom and Dad, and I’m so sorry for your loss #Piscotty https://t.co/fff57qHLvB
— Noah Syndergaard (@Noahsyndergaard) May 8, 2018