"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" (also referred to as "The Last Lecture"[1]) was a lecture given byCarnegie Mellon Universitycomputer science professor Randy Pausch on September 18, 2007,[2] that received a large amount of media coverage, and was the basis for The Last Lecture, a New York Times best-selling book co-authored with Wall Street Journal reporter Jeffrey Zaslow.[3] Pausch had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancerin September of 2006. On September 19, 2006, Pausch underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy to remove the malignant tumor from his pancreas. [4] In August 2007, after doctors discovered that the cancer had recurred, Pausch was given a terminal diagnosis and was told to expect a remaining three to six months of good health. [5]
