10.26.06
Seabiscuit
I don’t know if it’s age, but I’m having another one of my sentimental moments where I want to take this time to remember an AA friend. Writing about him on a public forum may seem out of character for me, but he was really special to me. About this time last year marks the one year anniversary of his passing. The actual date was the 27th of October, but since he lived in Europe, and I live on the west coast of the U.S., there was an 8 hour time difference. I met him through the Aplastic Anemia Forum, and we became pretty good internet pals. We wrote frequently, and chatted quite a bit, too. He told me that he would wait up late for me because I was interesting. Ha! Sweet guy. . . He had taken ATG three times, and with the help of Cyclosporin and GCSF injections, he was able to obtain a remission from his AA. However, he was never able get off the meds, and after about 2 years he relapsed big time and became severely transfusion dependent again even while taking his meds. But just at the beginning of round two with AA, he died of a heart attack early in the morning of Oct 27, 2005. To this day I hate the thought that I was probably comfortably sleeping in bed, while he was having a heart attack. When I heard the news, I was shattered. As I recounted our last live chat, he was telling me that he had written up his will which included the instructions for his funeral in case things turned for the worse. He knew who he wanted as pallbearers, what song they would play, that he didn’t want to have an autopsy, that he wanted to be cremated, etc. I knew he was having a hard time, but I didn’t realise how hard. Such is the disadvantage of living 5,000 miles away. Plus he would put on a good appearance for me by showing me on web cam that he still looked okay. With AA, looks can be so deceiving. . . But apparently, he had a gut feeling that the end was near for him. Yet, I didn’t realise it at the time, and had so much hope that he could regain remission. I had so much hope for his future.
For privacy’s sake, I’ll refer to him as his last chat nickname, “Seabiscuit.” He liked the name because he likened his AA struggle to the horse, Seabiscuit’s struggle racing to make it to the finish line. He liked sports, and “footy” was his favorite game–go Saints! Aside from his humor(he made me laugh a lot), he also liked a lot of music. One of the last songs I know he was listening to was by The Verve, The Drugs Don’t Work.
The Verve, The Drugs Don’t Work.
One of his favorite places was the waterfall in Glen Maye. And that is where he requested his ashes to be spread. I keep a picture of that waterfall by my computer, which his dad kindly sent to me.
Rest in peace, my dear Seabiscuit. I’m sure I’m only one of your many friends missing you today. I hope we meet again.
Your friend always, Marlakins.
