He was a fun-loving guy who embraced the idea of never fully growing up. He went to school to become a photographer and in fact photographed my wedding. I think his love of photography has somehow passed to all of us, as we all take more photos now then we ever did before. My older sister and he were married for ten years, most of which they were in Texas. My oldest daughter was born on his birthday, and always felt kind of tied to the uncle she hardly saw. When he was around, he loved to be right there on the floor playing with all the kiddos, although he wasn't able to have any of his own. His favorite holiday was Christmas and he always got really excited about giving gifts. He also loved Disney and Goofy was his favorite character. He was everyone's cheerleader and would sit and listen to us girls, never letting on that we were boring him to tears. He always had a quick smile and remark for everyone, despite how bad he felt. He is the only person I have ever known who had a transplant, and in his case it was a double-lung transplant. One of the favorite things we used to say was that he was told he'd only live to 17 and that he was beating those odds like crazy. Unfortunately, he didn't see 40, and my older sister was a widow by 32.
I remember, coming up one last time to see him in the hospital, sit with my sister, and say my good-byes. By this time, he was hospitalized and on dialysis (which he hated), and wasn't expected to ever get to go home again. He was hooked up constantly to oxygen. But even being hooked to all these tubes, and considered in critical condition, he still tried to smile each time I walked in the door. He hung on through Christmas and just barely into the new year that year. I believe he went to heaven on Jan 4th (not sure what year).
I wasn't able to make it to KC for the memorial service. There was a big ice storm and J didn't think it was safe to try. He couldn't understand why I was grieving so hard for someone that I hadn't really seen that often, especially lately. But I was a basket case. This was the first funeral/memorial service that I could not go to and I had a hard time without that closure. And it also was really hard to think of my sister being a widow at 32.
He was a really great guy with so much love to share, that went home way before anyone was ready for him to. I like to think of him playing with my son, and my sister's two children who are up in heaven with him, that he got to meet them before we did.
He always brought our family together, despite petty arguments. He is doing the same right now, from Heaven. As a whole family, we are walking October 29th, in memory of a brother and friend taken from us too soon.
If you would like to help support the fight to find a cure, through the Cystic Fybrosis Foundation, and our walk, please donate online at...
www.cf.org/Great_Strides/BeckyMcCoy
For every five dollars, if you put raffle in the description spot, you can have a chance to win this quilt
