Today would have
been Phillip’s 28th birthday.
Although he is not far from my thoughts every minute of every day, that
is even more the case today.
Although Phillip
eventually lost his battle with Friedreich’s Ataxia I am convinced that he
lived longer than he would have had he not received such excellent medical
care, and I place you at the top of the list. Even though it was his heart that eventually gave out, it
gave him a few more years than he would have had otherwise, because you took
such good care of it.
In case you ever
wonder what someone who is going to die anyway does with those extra years you
give them, here is a very short list of some of the things Phillip did in his
last 2 or 3 years:
-
He brought in the New
Year at Times Square with a friend.
-
He skied at Alpine
Meadows every year, and had skied just 4 weeks before his death.
-
He rafted down the
Colorado River less than a year before he died.
-
He jumped out of an
airplane at least once in his last year, and was planning another trip when he
died.
-
He celebrated his last
birthday with a big party at O’Flaherty’s Irish pub in San Jose.
-
He was planning
another fundraiser.
-
He went to the annual
conference of the National Ataxia Foundation every year, including the year
before he died.
-
He was planning to be
towed in his wheelchair in Ride Ataxia, an annual fundraiser for the
Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance.
-
And he was writing his
book, which he almost finished, and which his editor and I are polishing up and
will publish.
So never doubt
whether it really matters
whether someone who’s life you weren’t able to save, benefited from the time
you added. As Phillip had tattooed
on his arm (in Elvish) “All you have to decide is what to do with the time that
is given to you”, and you gave him a bit more to decide what to do with. Thank you.
