IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY FATHER
MAY 11, 1954 TO JANUARY 13,2003.

I do not have hep C my father did. He got it in the 70's when he had a blood transfusion. Back in 2000 he was diagnosed with hep C. About a year after that he found out he had cirrous of the liver. For almost three years he was not having any of the symptoms of the disease. He was working as a CNA, working almost 50 hours if not more. He was looking great in fact you could not even tell he had hep C at all.

He finally decided to try some of the new drugs that were out there and maybe even get a liver transplant. When he decided to look into the new drugs he was starting to feel the faint symptoms of the disease where he was feeling weaker and loosing weight. Finally it came down to that day where he quit work hoping he could go back sometime.

After he quit work he started feeling worse. He was not gaining weight, wanted to sleep all of the time and he even did not want to come out of the house. One early morning he came up to my house asking me to take him to the hospital because he stomach was hurting. We thought it was nothing but he said something was really wrong. They admitted him and after three days we learned he had a infection in his stomach which was eating at his liver.

He stayed in the hospital for two months. While in there he stopped breathing was put on a breathing tub and was in a coma. It was hard we thought he we were going to loose him then, but he came out of it a week later. Finally, Christmas Eve he came to live with my sister. We were taking care of him. Washing him, getting him in and out of his bed, helping him walk, and even brush his hair. At first he was doing almost everything for himself.

About one week after he came home he all he wanted to do was sleep. He did not want to get up or take his pills at all. Some days he never even ate. We would wash him, brush his hair, talk to him, let him watch tv, and even brush his teeth. Just a few days after he would get up he went into something like a coma. He would not respond, move his eyes or even move at all. We did the same thing day in and out. Taking care of him was getting harder each day. We were seeing our father die in front of our own eyes. He was loosing more weight and we could start to see his ribs.

That day finally came where we did loose him. On January 13th, 2003 he passed away. We were all there as a family and he was gasping for air. We knew what was happening, he was dieing. We stayed there with him, told him we loved him,. said we would be ok if he leaves us. He did pass away that night with his family there. It was the hardest day of my life. I was only 19 and I was seeing my Dad die in front of my eyes. How could this be happening? He was too good of a guy to be going through all of this. He was a great father and a loving friend. Why?

Remember this, your family is the best thing you have. It is something you can always go back to when you know that you did something wrong. I know now to take advantage of what you have as a family because it will not always be there for you.

Email me at magan_miles@yahoo.com

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