It was a Sunday evening, and I was talking to my business partner Pam, when suddenly there was an interruption in the conversation. Someone was trying to reach me on the phone, and I had to excuse myself, figuring it is late for a phone call. It must be an emergency that someone would call at this late hour.
I pick up the phone, and hear:
“Hello? Joe? It’s me, Jerry.”
On the other end is a man I’ve known for a short while, maybe less than a year, but a good guy and I consider him a friend.
“Jerry! What’s wrong?” I could hear it in his voice, a scared worried voice that also sounds frightened.
“Joe, I in Stony Brook hospital.”
“What’s wrong?!”
“I was fine all week then all of a sudden, I have blocked ducts, and the doctors say it is inoperable cancer, Joe!”
The sound of his voice is sinking me, the thought that this guy, is suffering is hard to swallow.
Jerry is a good man, giving of himself and doing a lot as an usher, and helping me out on the fund-raising committee, always there, always with good ideas, always putting his mouth where his money is. He has taken a lot of abuse from people that play on his good nature. A gentle giant and one that looks like he could chew you up and spit you out, loves everybody!
I offered to do whatever I can, and will visit him. I will give him all my time he needs. He is my age, and after losing two classmates or contemporaries in one week, this news really stinks!
My partner Pam: said it best, “Just in time for the holidays!”
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