LOL ~ not really funny but, no, my friend could not change in the end. We went to zero contact, mutual mostly, but it was hard & painful for us both.

An entire Year went by, no word one way or the other. Then BOOM! I get the call, the email, the text: 'we need to talk', 'I have some things I want/need to say'....uh...okay, I agreed, reluctantly.

I had not only moved on, I moved to Another State for crying out loud, started over for real. Not dating, just rebuilding myself.

He'd gotten word from a mutual friend that I was gone. Sent him into a tailspin. So he called.
What did he want to say? He asked for forgiveness. For being a douche, for causing so much pain.
And to tell me he is in end stage cancer, exacerbated by the drinking. He called to be forgiven and to say goodbye.

We have cursory contact now. It is hard for both of us. He guilts himself for reopening a wound. He said, he didn't mean to 'tear off the scab'. I was able to say it is healed, a scar to be sure, but scars are tough. Not to worry about me.
But I grieve. I am resigned. I am glad I knew him. Sad he's dying at 48. Dumbfounded that he made it worse & will die years before his time.

He knows he has in me someone who he can 'always' turn to. Even if it hurts. It means something to him to know he was loved. It was all I could give to ease his passage to the next life, the one he doesn't believe in. He will die with at least one thing eased in his mind.

And yes, I deserved better too, as he so happily told me.
I should have listened.