homegrown tobacco
He started with homegrown tobacco and at the ripe old age of 5 he was allowed to smoke in the house. When I was a young child he smoked Lucky Strike; a brand nearly forgotten now. Later I remember Pall Mall, and last of all L & M.
After his heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery he quit smoking, but not long after he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Doctors removed the lower portion of one lung and with it the entire tumor. They gave him the good news and told him he’d be fine. Hooray!
The cancer reared it’s ugly head with a vengeance about a year later in the form of a tumor in the center of his chest where the lungs join. In that area it’s inoperable and because he’d had heart problems, chemo wasn’t an option. He was given radiation treatments and eighteen months to three years to live. He lived three years and died in 1990. It was a horrific sight during the last week as he bit his own mouth from the waves of pain until his mouth bled.
He was my Daddy. Our two oldest children barely remember him. Our youngest never met him. None of his great grandchildren ever met him. He was young enough to still be living today. It wasn’t at all “kool”.
Paul MacCready, Jr. said, “Your grandchildren will likely find it incredible or even sinful that you burned up a gallon of gasoline to fetch a pack of cigarettes.”, but they won’t. They won’t even know who you were.
6 Comments
shooter
June 16, 2012Very poignant and heart rending, losing someone you love is a pain that never goes away it you just learn to live with it..my heart goes out to you.
x
Nick
June 16, 2012I love that quote. My father died 20 years ago, and both of my children have great memories of him.
yz
June 16, 2012what a sad story
gives a different view of the image
Elaine-
June 17, 2012oh gosh sister, i’m heart broken at this story… my mom died of cancer, but it was pancreatic cancer and killed her pretty fast…. i just told my husband the other day, if i ever get cancer, just go get me an overdose of heroin, coz i’m so done with suffering in life that i’m not willing to suffer just to die… i’m sorry, cigarettes are awful, and it’s striking the way the powers that be seem to be actually WANTING to kill us off and make money off of it at the same time.
rian
June 18, 2012..and that’s why i don’t smoke even when most of my friends did.. such a sad story, one that’s shared and experienced by a lot of people, yet the next generation still continue to do it..
Christopher
June 19, 2012I had a conversation with a coworker today in the hopes that I could get her to quit. She’s smoked for 40 years and just can’t figure out a way. Thanks for sharing this touching story of your dad Sherri. Nothing kool indeed.