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My dad was so strong he could lift more than a hundred
pounds with one arm. I know, because he often let my
brother or me swing from his outstretched hand. This
isn’t just daddy’s girl bragging — Dad really was tall,
strong, and athletic.
I remember him
challenging Mom to a pull-up contest in our garage. Mom
was tall and strong, too, and she went first. I recall
she jumped up to grab the exposed beam and did an
impressive two and one-half pull-ups. When Dad’s turn
came, he hopped up and effortlessly did several
pull-ups. When he got to number twelve or thirteen, Mom
told him to quit showing off.
I learned from
my folks that physical fitness was important. Dad rode
his bicycle and played basketball, softball, and other
sports.
But I also
learned from him that physical fitness and athleticism
aren’t necessarily markers of good health. His great
strength couldn’t fight the disease that later killed
him.
Looks can
be deceiving
In July 1991, his heart suddenly stopped. As Mom, my
brother, and I huddled in the emergency room hallway, we
overheard the doctor say, “We have to do an autopsy,
because this guy is really healthy. How does a
37-year-old man just drop dead?”
I will never
forget her words. The doctor had looked at him and
assumed he was healthy. No one, not even a doctor,
wanted to believe that a man like him could die for
seemingly no reason. When we were ushered into the room,
we saw Dad’s body. He didn’t appear to be sleeping; he
was gone.
My dad died of
cardiac sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that can
affect almost any organ in the body, but most often
affects the lungs and lymph nodes. The disease causes
the immune system to overreact, damaging the body’s own
tissues. For Dad, that meant severe damage to his right
lung and two-thirds of his heart.
It’s a disease
that can be managed with treatment, and most people who
have it don’t die from it. Dad was not one of those
people. He died two months after his 37th birthday — seven
years after his diagnosis.
When a
parent dies young
Dad knew he had sarcoidosis; my brother and I did not.
Mom knew but didn’t understand that it could kill her
husband. (continued
on next page)
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