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The Extraordinary Lessons Learned Teetering between Life and Death
And the realization that life is meant to be lived
Every terrible day starts with an unexpectedly beautiful morning. An unexpected sunny and balmy Sunday came as winter was beginning. I planned a simple day of football and Christmas activities. My wife’s birthday was coming up, and we looked forward to spending the day together. It was her first birthday as a mom, and she couldn’t ask for anything more than celebrating the season with our daughter.
By two o’clock in the afternoon, our lives were turned upside down.
My dad complained about a sore throat for a few days, so he canceled his trip with my mom to Atlantic City to go to urgent care to get it checked out. Historically one to skip any doctor’s visits, my dad was diagnosed with stage III throat cancer three years prior. The road to beating cancer and returning to form was long and strenuous. Now, he took his health much more seriously.
Unbeknownst to his kids, my dad was sent directly down to Jefferson University Hospital in Center City Philadelphia after the urgent care doctor looked down his throat. It was just a sore throat. Specifically, he told him to see his cancer doctor immediately. He sent us a simple text: “Going down to Jefferson to get checked out.”
