Lost my Uncle to colon cancer last night coming back from Austin,Tx.

[stude31]

First of all let me say that it was a pleasure to meet so many at LaserPat's celebration of his life.  I have known my uncle's health has been diminishing for the past several months.  Many of you don't know this and maybe it isn't important but at the age of 20 I had been notified that I had the ever so haunting family disease that had taken my aunt's life, now my uncles, and will one day take mine and my fathers.  See we have a disease called Familial Polyposis.  It is polyps that grow in your colon and turn cancerous by the time you are forty.  Well it stems back to the radiation exposure that my grandfather received while being a pilot and part of the test drops of the Atomic bomb.  He past away in 1959 an no one knew why and the military would share anything.  So move forward to 1980 and my aunt dies of this colon cancer and they find out it is genetic.  My uncle had cancer at the time and had been in remission for 32 yrs and dad just had the polyps. He has had a colostomy bag since 1981.

So if you are a carrier of this disease you have a fifty percent change of passing this on to your kids. Well.. there I was 20 years old and after the pathologist took out my entire colon they found over 1600 polyps in the lining of my colon. 

Why am I sharing this with you?  Because I believe that timing and screening is everything.  And knowing what medical conditions your family may be passing on to you.  Find out seek it out..  I am lucky to be alive, it is God's grace that I am still among everyone.  I coded blue twice on the table and when they cut me open I had an acute appendicitis.  So maybe that is why I live different than most 20 yr olds back then or even most 34 yr olds, now. 

I am sharing this to encourage you to have your colon checked out.  Now this isn't to say that it will save your life or as some had said that it would have saved LaserPat's life.  I don't believe that for a minute.  I believe that it was Pat's time and if he was to have been here one more day then God would have allowed that to happen.  But, I believe it is our responsibility to take proper steps to look out for possible health issues.  So, LaserPat's passing was bitter sweet for me..  I shared with him an email to encourage him that he may win this battle or may lose it but not to give up and no that good things are to come for many of us.

It is a sad day in my life to say good bye to an Uncle that was such a powerful impact in my life and helped raise his siblings when his dad died at such a young age.  Uncle Jimmy was the man of the house, if you will.  Dad and him were brothers, fishing buddies, and most important best friends.  It is hard for me to watch a part of my dad die as he said good bye to his brother.  I would just like to encourage anyone who promised to go see a buddy or talked about making that phone call to your friend you haven't talked to in a year? two years, maybe ten years.  Make the call catch up, you may never have that opportunity or maybe you will.

We have been blasting the general board with politics, guns, and moral issues for so long.  I just want you to consider living as if you were the one that was told you only have a week to live.  How would you live? How would you respond to some of these posts? maybe differently? maybe not.   Most of you are beyond my years and that's fine but maybe you might want to make that one phone call to someone to just mend the fence or lay the burden to rest.  No one knows the minute or the hour when your time runs out.

If you made it this far, thank you for letting me into your home for a few minutes I hope this finds you challenging to make today count.  In memory of the brotherhood my dad and Uncle Jimmy had...

(left to right:  Uncle Jimmy, dad, me).  This was taken last July.


This was his last fishing trip here on this earth.
(driving boat Uncle Jimmy's son, Dave Studebaker, Uncle Jimmy, and Dad)

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

Joe, words escape me other then I am sorry for your loss and wish you and your family healing hearts. Dave

[solo1]

Thank you for sharing, Stude21.

I had my last colonoscopy in 2010, no polyps ever.   However, like you, I inherited something from my Dad, asthma.  Todays medical profession has helped keep it under control unlike my Dad who passed early due to complications from asthma.

My recent bout with diverticuli makes that problem seem nothing compared to yours and your family.  

Prayers to you and the family.

wayne

[Oss]

thank you for sharing that


Sorry to hear about your uncle he sounds like he was a great role model for you


We will keep you in our prayers and thoughts

Oss

[Michael K (Az.)]

Very movingly written, Stude. Nice to see an ability to put things in perspective at your relatively young age. Thanks.

[RainMaker]

Very sorry to hear of your loss. What a powerful message you delivered in your post - thank you for those words. Prayers being raised for your family.

RainMaker

[Bonzo]

I am very sorry for your loss.

[olddog1946]

Sorry for your loss and heartfelt thanks for your post and words of wisdom.

[R J]

Stude, sorry to hear of your loss.   You lost a relative/friend, but you still have all the memories from being around him.   Hang tough young man.  They are all your Guardian Angels now.

Thoughts, prayers and anything else ya need being sent from Iowa.     You is family here Bro, so if ya have a need, sound off.   If I can't help ya, somebody else will/can step forward.

[HayHauler]

Sorry to hear about your uncle.  I hate to hear that good people are taken so soon.  
I like what you said, make the call, plan the trip, whatever you have to do to talk or visit the people that mean the most to you.

Hay  
Jimmyt

[czuch]

So very sorry to hear this.  Prayers for you and your family.

[JimmyG]

Sorry for your loss.

[Super Santa]

So sorry to hear of your loss, Joe.  Prayers for you and family.

[iliveforcurves]

So sorry for your loss. 

[BonS]

And the sacrifices and suffering go on. Your grandfather made a huge difference in who we are and how we live today. So many take it for granted. His offspring and theirs continue this sacrifice. The true cost of freedom is incalculable. I'm sorry to hear of your families ongoing health struggle. Life isn't fair. Thanks for sharing this with us Stu and I'm sure that it will carry a lasting affect on those that have read it. Starting with me. Regards!

[hotglue #43]

Joe.. I'm moved by your words and so sorry for your loss.  I'm scheduling a checkup in April. My heart goes out to you and your family.

Mark

[flamingobabe #44]

Thanks for sharing your family with us...sorry for losing your uncle...prayers for strength and comfort for family and friends



enjoyed seeing you again and meeting Terryl.....

[Karen]

Thanks for your gift in the midst of your sorrow, for reaching out and sharing the good and the bad. Very moved by your thoughts, I'd say words escape me, but too many have already left to do that.  You & your family are in my prayers.

[RoadKill]

 

[Stars and Stripes]

Joe

prayers sent to you and your family

[da prez]

 PRAYER TO YOU AND YOURS. YOU ARE A SMART AND CARING MAN GOD BLESS
                                                                                    da prez

[PharmBoy]

Joe, I have known from the time of our first telephone conversation years ago that you were someone special.  Someone wise way beyond your years.  Subsiquent conversations confirmed that fact and by the time of our first meeting I felt that I already knew you.  It is indeed strange that I could have such a close friend that is younger than my youngest son, but the last few years of visits, MC trips, and a wrench party thrown in for good measure, have shown my wife and I the real person of conviction, honesty, and value that you are.

Of course I already knew of your family's problem and the reasons for it, but thank you for using your problem to urge others to be more aware of what we all should do to preempt deadly health situations.  When we are ask, "How ya doing?", we are all programed to reply, "Great".  But are we really?

I was so sorry about your uncle's passing, but I am glad that I could be with you when you learned of it.  Even though it was something that you were expecting, I know that there is very little that one can say to ease the pain.  We have all been there and words just do not fill the void left in one's heart when a loved one leaves us.

Linda and I want to thank you and Teryl for your stopping by on your way back from Austin to Topeka.  It was a joy to see you again and to finally meet Teryl.  Watching the KU basketball game together wasn't so bad either.  I'm sorry that you arrived home so late, but maybe the stop gave you guys a little time to recoup a bit.

Joe, may The Lord go with you and watch over you always, my friend...Jim

[bigguy]

Sorry for your loss. You sound wise beyond your years, and I'm sorry for that also. Only advice I can give, you seem to already know. Hang on the the good memories.

[Crazyhorse]

Sorry for your lost my friend. Life is like a puff of smoke what we do with that short time given is all that matters.