Remembering a dear old friend

Since the purpose of my blog is to reflect thoughts and feelings during my time outside the U.S. in 2010 and 2011, there are times when real life intervenes and personal issues must be dealt with. This blog entry is written with a sad and heavy heart. My best friend, Dave Garrison, has lost his wife to a combination of diseases that have haunted her for the past 20 years. I’ve known Dave and Sue since 1982 and have shared many, many good times with them. Their daughter, Christine, was born on 9/24/84, exactly one year before our first child, Michael. Dave and Sue were one of those rare couples who got along so amazingly well that they seemed like one person, not two, and did it without either losing their personal identity.



They met in college (if Slippery Rock State College really exists) and were together for 35+ years. Dave and I are very similar, we laugh at stupidity and, if there’s none around, we create some. Both of our wives were named Susan and Sue Garrison had more tolerance for our nonsense than Susan Spiegel. Sue had battled diabetes her entire life and she eventually needed a new kidney or would on dialysis forever. Sue had two kidney transplants and one pancreas transplant. One kidney came from Dave, which is a rarity because a non-blood relative can only match something like 9 of the 25 possible comparison points to qualify for a kidney donation. Through mismanagement of her medication, the transplanted kidney stopped functioning. Sue’s sister donated a second kidney and all seemed to be going really well. The Spiegel clan descended on the Garrison home in December, 2006 for a visit that was quite enjoyable and will be our life memory of our families together. (Note: Those photos are on a computer in WA and can't be retrieved for this blog.) Recently, a mass or growth was discovered on Sue's intestines and liver. I guess transplant patients are more prone to rare and fast growing cancers. Sue succumbed to a combination of illnesses earlier this month. When I think about the amount of time Sue had been in a hospital in the past twenty years, it is truly mind boggling, probably one whole year, if not more. I think I have been in the hospital for three days in that time. Sue's will to live was strong and she had a lot to live for but, eventually, the incremental issues could not be overcome.

Here are the three of us in good times. The Garrison's daughter Christine is mostly out of sight with just an arm showing, Michael is on my back and Susan snapped the photo taken sometime around April 1986 when Dave had hair, I was skinny and Sue Garrison was healthy and smiling, just the way we want to remember her.



Finally, in remembering Sue Garrison, I want to post a photo I took in April 2005 during one of my visits. Sue was interested in photography but had some trouble holding her camera steady but we went out to a local park to take some photos. This hopefully humorous photo became a source of laughter for all of us and ended up hanging in one of the bathrooms in Dave and Sue's home in Plano.