[Leica] Just for YOU! Who says Kyle doesn't love the LUG?!

[nbeddoe at lehman.com (Beddoe, Neil)]

Thanks for that.

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+nbeddoe=lehman.com@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+nbeddoe=lehman.com@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Kyle
Cassidy
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 2:07 PM
To: 'lug@leica-users.org'
Subject: [Leica] Just for YOU! Who says Kyle doesn't love the LUG?!


Okay kids, normally I'd keep this one under my hat and the pix in my family
album, but it's dripping with LUG happiness like a Tilly hat giveaway, so
I'll pass it along.

Six months ago my friend Jay, who's known me since I was five and been the
uncle I've always wanted, went into the hospital feeling dizzy from an
infection. Within hours he'd gone into a coma where he stayed for eleven
weeks. Luck put him in a hospital near me and I was able to ride the subway
a mere few blocks during my lunch hours to sit with his wife and two grown
children who took turns flying out from their respecitve new homes. It
looked grim. The infection wouldn't go away, he wouldn't wake up, he
underwent open heart surgery to try and cut away the infection which had
lodged on a valve in his heart. But he was still unresponsive and doctors
couldn't bring him back to consciousnes. They said that his high feaver
could have caused brain damage and that the longer her was in a coma, the
less likely he was to ever wake up. After months, he opened his eyes but
showed no signs of recognizing anyone, his eyes would dart around while
people talked to him. He lost a significant amount of weight and couldn't
breathe without a ventelator, couldn't eat, couldn't drink, couldn't move.
Then. One afternoon, I went to the hospital at lunch and his wife said: "I
was leaning over his face saying 'Jay, Jay, can you hear me?' Like I always
do, and he said: 'You're standing on my ventilator!' I looked around and
said 'No! Jay, I'm not!' and he said, in a very labored voice, 'It was a
joke!'" Suddenly, in the space of minutes, he had come back from whatever
brink he'd been to, seemingly his old self. I went in to see him and he
said, 'Kyle ... I'm ... too ... tired ... to ... talk.' Which was more than
I'd ever hoped to hear from him again. He woke up, but he was completely
paralized from the neck down. Gradually the paralysis subsided, he went
through weeks of PT and yesterday, made three significant milestones,
firstly he went home, for the first time in months, secondly, he walked ten
feet with the aid of a walker, and thirdly, possibly most importantly, he
met his granddaughter for the first time. I happened to be there when it
happened and snapped two photos with my little leica.

http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/jay/1.jpg
http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/jay/2.jpg

This sounds like something you'd read on the LUG, doesn't it? Now wipe away
your tears and go photograph something. Put something on film and make this
day count, people it's never going to be here again.

Kyle
_______________________________________________
Leica Users Group.
See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This message is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the
designated recipient(s) named above.  If you are not the intended recipient 
of
this message you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination,
distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited.  This
communication is for information purposes only and should not be regarded as
an offer to sell or as a solicitation of an offer to buy any financial
product, an official confirmation of any transaction, or as an official
statement of Lehman Brothers.  Email transmission cannot be guaranteed to be
secure or error-free.  Therefore, we do not represent that this information 
is
complete or accurate and it should not be relied upon as such.  All
information is subject to change without notice.