Tuesday, June 5, 2012

A dream still within his view

Mr. L. is  68 year old male who was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gerhig's Disease) in  September, 2009 and is now end-stage (bed-bound).

He's an amazing man and has a great family (2 children and 5 grandchildren).

He knows that his time left is short.

He retired in 2005, at age 62, after a 22 year career in the NAVY and a 22 year career with the post office.

He was also an amazing carpenter, in his spare time. His family reports that most all of the furniture in all their homes was built by him.

The furniture was beautiful.

Within weeks of his retirement, his mother-in-law, a recent widow, moved in with he and his wife due to having advanced Parkinson's disease and remained with them until her death in the summer of 2009.

He and his wife never considered nursing home placement.

Within weeks of his mother-in-laws death, he was diagnosed with ALS.

As I was leaving, I noticed an RV parked along side their home.

His wife let me know that it was always his dream to travel the country together in an RV.

It was a retirement gift to himself, purchased only weeks prior to his mother-in-law moving in with them.

Family commitments and his health have prevented him from fulfilling this one dream but he appears incredibly content-he has a wonderful legacy of strength, character and devotion to family and he can also see the RV from his bedroom window.

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