They can have control of your email without you having a virus.
The BOT mentioned above simply figures out your password, logs in
to your email and starts sending spam to your contacts or people
you have sent or received email from. That is why a password
change will generally shut it down.
Sorry to hear this Tony. My mom passed while I was at the Western
Meet in Polson. Then in December of 2012 my step-dad. Both were
heavy smokers and had very nasty bouts that started as lung cancer
and spread like crazy. Hard to watch.