Raise your glass for lost friends

[Guest]

. . . .

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Playing Gin Rummy with my Grandmother in the plum orchard hearing about how pretty my mother was. I miss her tons.

 

[cloudy]

for you, Sarahh.

I'll raise one with you in memory of my brother-in-law who was lost at the World Trade Center.

 

[cantdog]

Sarahh, my thoughts are with you. I lost a brother, too, to a brain disease. I wish you healing and a strong spirit.

Life can deal us a Yarborough sometimes. I think there could be, maybe, a pattern, but then I find myself angry. Which is silly. Who would I be angry with? My brother was nobody's saint, man. But this kind of bad fortune can hardly be justified.

So I offer you love. It is the best healer. This is a memory thread, you say. So be it. Let us remember. The life is in the memory and in the love. And I know you still can remember and still do love. I do too. Release your brother's spirit into the peace which it deserves. Heal.

Holding your hand

cantdog

 

[joeys-game]

To you Sarah..i lost my best friend in a horrific car crash. I was supposed to be in that car, someone was watching over me.
I'll raise my glass with you..here's to your big brother!

joey

 

[English Lady]

*hugs* to all who've posted here.

I'll toast for my Grandad. He died of cancer of the oesophagus *thinks* 10 years ago now. He wasted away to nothing from a round jolly man who always used to pull a face when we kissed him -which of course made us want to kiss him more!


I miss him even though mum swears his spirit passes through her kitchen now and then, making the lights flicker

 

[McKenna]

Because I'd still like to kick your ass, little brother. Craig, 1974-2002.








.

for Sarahh

 

[Belegon]

I'll raise my glass and remember all those I would have liked to have had more time with, and maybe someday I will...

 

[Edward Teach]

On June 1, my brother was found unconscious and rushed to the ER. Tests showed that he had massive brain and spinal cord tumors.

The cancer was inoperable and widespread. He was having seizures which were further damaging his brain.

He was placed on life support and given medications to stop the seizures. Each time the meds were stopped, the seizures would begin again.

He had no living will and I was asked to make a decision regarding leaving him on life support. I was advised that he would not suffer when the life support was removed, that the buildup of carbon dioxide in his system would simply put him to sleep.

After six days, he had not regained consciousness and showed no response to pain. I was advised by five different doctors that there was no hope for his ever regaining consciousness let alone being cured of the cancer.

On June 7, I had him removed from life support and held his hand for four hours until he died.

He would have been happy to be remembered on this site.



.

 

[raphy]

My thoughts go to everyone who has posted in this thread. Cancer is still the biggest killing, longest running fatal disease for which there is no definable static cure.

And actually, it is come around once more to that time of year for me, too. In 1998, on the day of my 24th birthday, my mother went into a coma. She had fought cancer for 4 or 5 years previously to that, undergone a double masectomy, but it just kept reappearing in different places in her body. She never regained consciousness.

A week later, she just rolled over in in the hospital bed, coughed once, and simply stopped breathing. I was the only one with her when she left us. She was 50 years old.

Many of you know that I am a musician, a guitarist singer-songwriter. For over 5 years, I have been trying to put down in words my feelings about this. Finally, with the aid of whisper, I wrote this a few days ago.


Give Me A Moment

I remember the way she used to be
That look in her eyes she saved just for me
And like an angel, she’d hold me in her arms
Keeping me safe from harm

There was nothing that she wouldn’t do
To help me achieve what I wanted to
And when I hurt, well it was her that cried
Right up until that last night

And there’s a picture I hold in my mind
Before she left me the last time

Give me a moment, a little time alone
A few precious seconds, before she goes home
Just a moment, to say what’s on my mind
To say my goodbyes one last time

We were at my birthday dinner, when the call came in
Interrupting my night, before it could begin,
My dad said, ‘Son, you better come on home, ‘cause she’s fading fast,
‘And I don’t know how long she’ll last’

‘She’s in a coma, and I don’t know where to turn
I had twenty-eight good years with her’

Give me a moment, a little time alone
A few precious seconds, before she goes home
Just a moment, to say what’s on my mind
To say my goodbyes one last time

She lasted a week in that hospital bed
We watched her in shifts, night and day
Then she coughed, and she drew her last breath
And I fell to my knees and I prayed

Lord, give me a moment, a little time alone
A few precious seconds, before she goes home
Just a moment, to say what’s on my mind
To say my goodbyes one last time

Give me a moment, a little time alone
One second Lord, before you take her home
Just a moment, while I’m down here on this floor
To say, ‘Mom, I love you’ once more

 

[carsonshepherd]

Just a moment, while I’m down here on this floor
To say, ‘Mom, I love you’ once more
[/i]

At least you had that chance. Some of us never do.

The life is in the memory and in the love. And I know you still can remember and still do love. I do too. Release your brother's spirit into the peace which it deserves. Heal.

thank you for those words, cant...try to do that with my father, who also died of cancer at 42, almost 16 years ago. Half my life ago.

Hugs to you, sarahh. your brother will always be with you...

 

[raphy]

At least you had that chance. Some of us never do.

Well, she wasn't exactly conscious or aware at the time.. In fact, by the time I had noticed at the end, she was already gone.

I like to think that she heard me, though.

But then, I like to think that she still hears me, even now.

 

[Liar]

So far, all my loved ones have died from living until they were done. Only once been to a funeral for someone too young, and I didn't know him well enough to feel it.

A toast for all who are gone, and a for those left behind.

 

[Guest]

For you, Sarah.

http://warcrafty.com/spiff/e/cheers.gif For your brother.

And http://warcrafty.com/spiff/e/cheers.gif For My grandparents, Earnest and Sadie. At 89 and 87 after more than 50 years of marriage they were still more in love than any couple I ever knew. Earnest passed away in Feb 98, Sadie went to join him just three days later. I miss them, but I am happy that they are together and young again.

 

[minsue]

 

[Guest]

. . . .

 

[cantdog]

Raphy, the song was beautiful. Thank you. It touched my heart.

 

[raphy]

One thing I forgot to mention, and this is an appropriate place to post it.

I always regret that my mother went into her coma so fast that we never had the chance to tell her the things that really matters - Even though I suspect she knew anyway, it still would have been nice to have been able to say them to her face, consciously.

I swore that I wouldn't make that same mistake again. So now, even though I live 3000 miles away, I call my dad every weekend (or as close to that as time permits) and tell him that I love him and that I am grateful for everything he did, not the least of which is making me into the man I am.

Raise a toast to those you have lost, but don't be too busy doing that to take every opportunity to tell those that are still with you how much they mean to you.

 

[Guest]

. . . .

 

[Dar~]

My sophomore year in high School, one of my best friends hung himself in his bedroom closet. His sister found him three days later. to him and to his sister who has been a little messed up ever since.


A month ago, one of my friends's sons died in the night from Sudden Child Death Syndrom. He was only two. To his memory and strength to his parents who are still numb.

 

[English Lady]

One thing I forgot to mention, and this is an appropriate place to post it.

I always regret that my mother went into her coma so fast that we never had the chance to tell her the things that really matters - Even though I suspect she knew anyway, it still would have been nice to have been able to say them to her face, consciously.

I swore that I wouldn't make that same mistake again. So now, even though I live 3000 miles away, I call my dad every weekend (or as close to that as time permits) and tell him that I love him and that I am grateful for everything he did, not the least of which is making me into the man I am.

Raise a toast to those you have lost, but don't be too busy doing that to take every opportunity to tell those that are still with you how much they mean to you.

So very, very true.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

To Sarah's brother

To Rosie Ten years and I still miss you, jerky.

I hope all who feel the loss find the peace they need.

 

[pop_54]

Some anniversaries are difficult.

And this one is for me. I debated whether or not to start this thread, but I realized I just couldn't let it pass tonight. You see, it was two years ago this date that my big brother died.

Though I've spoken publicly about it in small doses, I kept most of the details of that awful time private. It was a cancerous brain tumor (glioblastoma multiforme Grade IV) that killed him only 86 days after the initial diagnosis. He was 42.

After the scan showed the brain tumor we all prayed. We prayed the biopsy wouldn't be cancerous. Then we prayed the experimental treatment would help. Then we prayed the specialists at the University of Alabama-Birmingham could somehow save him.

But no. He had the worst possible tumor in the worst possible place. His case was inoperable, and even with surgery the life span of patients with a grade IV glio diagnosis was less than a year.

So we took him home to Missouri, my sister and I following his ambulance averaging 95 MPH for 800 miles all the way to my parent's home. We cared for him there during his last month of life and we were all with him when he died.

And then we took him to Michigan to be buried, in a place we all love. It's home.

Our family still hasn't completely healed; I wonder if that will ever happen. I still grieve his loss for us and for his young children. And I still have a great deal of anger that I'm beginning to believe I'll always keep.

But this is getting me nowhere this evening.

What I wanted to do was start one of those Memory type threads which I usually can't stand yet somehow seems so appropriate to me right now.

So tonight, I'm drinking a toast to my lost brother.

Please raise your glass and celebrate the lives of those you love. Share your experiences here if you wish and please celebrate those whom you miss, those you've lost, and those you'll see again.

It's the only way to keep them alive in our hearts.

and I'll raise my glass to you sarahh love and to your brother.

And one to uncle Gilbert my old mentor and saviour from days gone by.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Tatone. I miss you every day.

 

[Penelope Street]