Not 100% sure where to post this, but I wanted to share this story.
My father passed away this past Saturday afternoon, at the age of 47. My father, born May 25th 1964, grew up in Upstate NY. He was a huge fan of the band Journey and also of the New York Mets. But nothing came close to his love for our Miami Dolphins. He posted on here occasionally, as MrMiami.
Growing up, he was the guy that had all the girls, the cool cars, and the wild parties every weekend. But then, at the age of 23, he was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. As the years went on, the disease took it's toll on his body. To cope with it, he started drinking. And the drinking never stopped.
I was born in 1990, and I was the best thing that had ever happened to him. But because of the drinking and the violence, my Mother left him shortly after my birth. After losing everything, he realized he had to straighten up. He was able to beat the alcoholism, and by 1993, he never touched alcohol again for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, the Arthritis continued to get worse. His hands were bad to the point he couldn't even throw a football with me anymore. But he still fought on, and he did everything possible for his family.
In 2008, he had broken his finger, and it had gotten infected. Because of the medicine for the Arthritis, his immune system was very weak. The infection spread and he lost 30 pounds in 2 weeks. His doctors were even telling him they didn't think he was going to make it. But he fought it, and he fought back to full health.
This past January, we got the big blow. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in the esophogus and liver. His doctor gave him a max of one year to live. But, as always, he was determined to fight. After a full 5 weeks of chemotherepy, he went back for a scan which showed that the liver cancer was stable and the tumor in the esophogus had shrunk. After 4 weeks off, he went back on the chemotherepy.
Two weeks into it, he went to the hospital because he couldn't breathe. He stayed that night as they ran tests. By this time, his breathing was so bad, that he had to almost lift his body off the bed to get a full breath in. The results came back, he had pneumonia in his right lung. Two days later, still in the hospital, the doctor came in that morning to tell us that the infection has gotten much worse. Because of the chemotherepy, he didn't have the white blood cells to fight it. His right lung was pretty much useless at this point. He said to my father, flat out "I'm going to tell you what's going on, because you are a man, and you deserve to be treated as such. You probably won't make it through this."
For those that don't know, the average healthy person breathes 15-20 times a minute. My Father was breathing 45-50 times a minute. Breathing like that for 3 days will wear down your muscles, and it was showing. It was painful for him to breathe. Hospice spoke to us, as a family, and as a family we decided that the humane thing to do was to let him be comfortable. Saturday afternoon, they took away his oxygen and gave him morphine to take away his pain. We had 25-30 family members there to say their final goodbyes. I said to him "You have been fighting you're entire life. I'm 21 years old now. You have done the best job anyone could have done raising me. It's ok to stop fighting." And he understood. Our entire family stood around his bed as he passed away.
My Father was a HUGE Dan Marino fan. These past years without a QB, all he kept saying was "Why can't they find a QB?" His final Miami Dolphins memory, was sitting in his hospital bed next to me, watching the draft, as Miami FINALLY drafted a QB. Before his wake, a friend of mine gave my family a gift. It was a helmet that my friend owned. A Miami Dolphins helmet, game worn, and signed, by Troy Vincent.
My Father was a fighter. We all know you have to be, to be a Dolphins fan. And while I mourn the loss of my Father, I look at the 2012 NFL Draft, and I know that he would have been very hopeful for the future, as am I, and I'm sure you all are as well. So for the 2012 season, and beyond... GO DOLPHINS!!!
