My friend Richard was diagnosed with a terminal disease in April of 2012.He was told by his doctor that he had a month to live. Richard, not someone to lay down and die, began his fight with the attitude: “I’m not going to die with cancer I’m gonna live with cancer.” After many rounds of treatment and over a year later, Richard was back working 10-12 hours a day, off the treatments and with his usual positive attitude, thanking God and living life to the fullest. Unfortunately, there were more challenges ahead for Richard; he rolled his motorcycle, broke his sternum, and his neck in three places. As he was being transported to emergency, he was heard saying to his wife, “Sharon, bring my IPhone, my IPad, and my charger.” Again, few people expected Richard to survive; however, we still don’t have a machine to measure a brave person’s heart. Reacting to the medication in the hospital, Richard was strapped to his bed to calm him down. As he was coming back to reality, he said, “Cut me loose, I’m tied to this bed”. The nurse responded, “You’re not tied to a bed, you are being restrained”. Richard said, “I’m from Parkdale, PEI and over there they would say I was tied to a bed”. The big nurse responded, “You only have a 10% chance of getting out of here anyway.” Richard’s son who was in the room said, “You cut him loose. He’ll decide that.”
Richard came home to resume his fight, and after a short time he was stricken with three heart attacks and was admitted once again to hospital. Of course, many people didn’t expect Richard to survive. I went to visit him in the hospital, got his room number from the desk and started for his room. I expected to see Richard in bed, very sick and weak. Instead, I found him sitting in the main lobby, talking to a friend, and drinking orange juice. He laughingly said, “I was out to the old home week fair last night and I’m going back tonight. I borrowed the owner’s golf cart and was scooting around visiting everyone.” Richard was once again released from the hospital. He called me recently asking to be referred to a Personal Trainer. He just doesn’t know how to quit.
Allan Andrews