My mother passed away from cancer 2 years ago (she was 67). She had her ups and downs on the 2 weeks she was at the hospital, but I still remember a few days before, on a Saturday how ..alive she was. A friend of her and even 2 friends of mine came to visit that day, talked to her and left because of how well she looked. Her doctor came by and was really happy to see her progress.
Then on Sunday, when I returned from work to stay at the hospital she was with an oxygen mask, eyes closed and in pain.
She passed a few days later (Thursday). Those friends that visited that Saturday were speechless when I told them. Couldn't believe me, since she was so well that day.
******
All this around Iwata reminded me of that a bit. My mom was the person that got me into Nintendo, Mario, Zelda and even her last (christmas) gift were a Mario and Luigi figurines, even when I was 30 years old back then.
On one of the last Directs Iwata wad on, I noticed his weight loss and also reminded me of that. My mom was always talking about how she was losing weight, even when I kept telling her she was a beautiful as always. I actually didn't noticed it, until later when I was seeing some old pictures. Love is blind, some say.
It is really sad. Iwata was part of Nintendo and my childhood in that way. My mom got me Kirby because she liked the character in the cover and Kirby was made by him.