From what I was told my grandpa was a ball of energy. Playing sports, going on vacations, tending to his farm, and going to anything his kids or grand kids were a part of. I unfortunately never knew this type of man. From a very early onset my grandpa was victim to many life threatening situations, that changed him forever. Sometimes it feels like God makes the best kinds of people suffer too much in one lifetime. But what makes him a fighter, is that he survived. Through some of the worst, he still has a smile on his face.
It all started when he was forty-four years old. The first life changing tragedy was a major heart attack, leading to open heart surgery. A million people in the United States die from a heart attack each year. My grandpa was able to defeat this first death scare. A few years later my grandpa needed angioplasty surgery. Without this he may have faced another heart attack which would have caused death. Having to change many daily habits grandpa survived again.
Unfortunately in October of 2000 grandpa received terrible news, he had prostate cancer. To prepare for yet again another surgery they needed take him off his blood thinners, which he had been on since the heart attack.
Who would of thought that something worse would come after being told you have cancer. Even with his rough past my grandpa didn't meet his biggest challenge until November of 2000. After being taken off of the blood thinners to perform prostate surgery for his cancer little did they know that he would have a stroke. Without the thinners a blood clot was formed causing him to have his stroke.Over 700,000 Americans die from stokes every year, but do they all have the same story as him? Waiting in the car for his wife while grocery shopping, it happened. As his arm fell dead to his side it knocked something, the car lock. Locking himself in, with no one to help. Being locked in the car and the nearest hospital miles away the drug to help stoke patients recover faster didn't work. After overcoming the battle to stay alive, his next challenge was to see how much he could recover. Sadly his stroke was very severe, hitting the left side of his brain leaving the right side of his body severely paralyzed along with no motor or coordination skills. At age fifty-two everything my grandpa was able to do in life was stripped from him. I was too young to remember my grandpa before his stroke, so I only know this way of life for him.
Over the years my grandpa has been able to adjust to his handicaps. Recently he fell and broke his hip. The doctors gave two options. The first being do nothing and die within months or have surgery knowing there was risk of dying during surgery or following due to infection or phenomia. Surgery was chosen. As my grandpa was wheeled out of his hospital room to be taken to surgery, my uncle said “Be Strong.” In return my grandpa proceeded to make a fist and held it up high. From that that moment on we knew he would once again be a fighter and make it through surgery, which he did. With a long road ahead of him, we all pray that he will step out of the ring a winner again.
Living within the limitations of his own body and unable to truly communicate with his family. He has been deprived of a quality of life many people are afforded after retirement. Despite all of the setbacks and struggles, my grandpa is very happy being alive despite living through a rough quality of life the past thirty-four years. Which has made him a true definition of a fighter
(My grandpa and I before his stroke)
No comments:
Post a Comment