A DAY FOR ALL TO REMEMBER

IT WAS A SUNNY DAY THAT MAY 12,1989. I WAS AT WORK, WHEN I RECEIVED A CALL FROM MY MOM SAYING THAT DAD IS PICKING ME UP. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG.

DAD CAME TO PICK ME UP. AND HE TOLD ME THERE WAS AN ACCIDENT. MY SON, JAMES, WAS SHOT, AND WAS RUSHED TO THE HOSPITAL. THE VERY HOSPITAL HE WAS BORN IN.

WHEN WE GOT TO THE HOSPITAL, WE WERE TOLD THAT JIM WAS SHOT IN THE CHEST AT POINT BLANK RANGE WITH A 9MM HANDGUN. HIS FRIEND SHOT HIM. I WAS SO DEVESTATED, I JUST COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT WAS HAPPENING.

I BEGAN REMEMBERING HOW MY SON GAVE US SO MUCH JOY AND HAPPINESS. THIS CAN'T BE ENDING NOW?

FOR SIX HOURS HE WAS OPERATED ON. THE DOCTORS AND NURSES WORKED SO HARD ON HIS RAVAGED BODY. THREE TIMES HIS HEART STOPPED; THE NURSE EXPLAINED TO ME. EVERYTIME IT STOPPED, HE WOULD SOON RALLY BACK. FINALLY, AFTER THE SIX HOURS, JAMES CAME OUT OF SURGER Y; HOOKED UP TO ALL SORTS OF TUBES AND LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS.

IN THE PROCESS, JAMES LOST ONE OF HIS KIDNEYS, PART OF HIS LIVER, AND THE AORTA WAS DAMAGED SO HE HAD TO HAVE AN ARTERY FROM THE LEG PUT IN TO REPLACE IT. FOR TWO DAYS HE WAS STRUGGLING REAL HARD, AND WE ALL WERE VERY WORRIED ABOUT HIM.

WHEN I TALKED TO THE ONE DOCTOR, HE SHOOK HIS HEAD. ALL OF THE DOCTORS AND NURSES SHOOK THEIR HEADS, ALSO. THEY SAID THAT THEY DIDN'T KNOW HOW IT WAS POSSIBLE THAT HE LIVED. IT WAS A VERY HARD MONTH FOR JAMES. HE DEVELOPED AN INFECTION THAT WAS NEVER IDENTIFIED BY THE CDC. JAMES WAS ON DIALYSIS FOR A WHILE AND WAS IN A VERY SERIOUS CONDTION. HE WAS IN THE HOSPITAL FOR A MONTH.

THROUGHOUT THE NEXT TWENTY-FOUR YEARS HE HAD NUMEROUS HEALTH PROBLEMS THAT HE FACED. HIS COURAGE WAS SO REMARKABLE. HE EVEN MADE ALL OF US LAUGH EACH DAY, BY TELLING US FUNNY ONE LINE JOKES.

THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE HE TOUCHED MANY HEARTS AND SOULS. HE WROTE SEVERAL STORIES AND WAS A VERY GIFTED PHOTOGRAPHER AND A MOVIE AND TELEVISION AND MATH SEVANT.

ALTHOUGH JAMES HAS PASSED AWAY, HIS LEGACY LIVES ON, THROUGH MANY GIFTS HE GAVE US ALL OF HIS TIME AND TALENTS. I AM SO BLESSED THAT HE WAS BROUGHT INTO THIS WORLD TO BE MY SON FOR THIRTY-NINE YEARS. I WILL LOVE HIM FOVEVER.