Thursday night – Thanksgiving

November 25, 2011 johncohn Leave a comment

Today was Thanksgiving.. usually one of my least favorite holidays of the whole year.. I never much cared for it.. (it’s not a great day to be a vegetarian) .. but since Sam’s passing.. the week itself has always been hard..

Even so.. we had a good day.. It started with a run. Diane and I went down to the round church to join about 100 folks for the 5th annual Jarred Williams Turkey Trot.. The Turkey Trot is in memory of Jarred Williams who died of a brain tumor in 2001. Since then, his parents Dwayne and Maureen have raised about 300,000 dollars to support families of sick kids.. Dwayne announced at before the race that they were goign to close down the foundation after this year. they’d done what they needed to do.. I am so impressed with the good that they’ve done. Diane ran home which was 5k.. I ran 10K…. Sorry for the poor pictures.. they’re from my old phone.. here’s Dwayne making the announcement

here’s Danielle, Jarred’s sister and Maureen,, Jarred’s mom.

After the race.. we just lazed around the house all day.. trying to stay hungry for tonight.. Gabe and I passed some of the time by continuing our exploits in photographing feed being blown up in slow motion .. here are some more shots ..

Finally around 6, we all went up to Deb’s for her inaugural Thanksgiving dinner in her new place.. as always.. it was delicious.. it was just us, deb and her kids and the kenny’s .. good company and good food. ! It brought back many good.. and soem panful memories.. I’ll ever forget that first thansgiving when we came back from Florida after Sam’s accident.. our house was full of pople.. it was wonderful and surreal.. and sad..

tonight was only easy and fun..

diane had put an angel card under each persons plate.. mine said ‘patience’.. a good mantra for me now.

the carved turkey looked particularly beast-like !

ah .. jsut like a traditional thanksgiving.. the kids crowded around an ipad !…

Ian showed us a weird way to get your face to flap around.. too tempting to miss on slow
motion..

then scary movies for the kids.. and home to bed for us.

Now I’ve got to sign off.. too sleepy to keep typing.. I am thankful for my family and freinds.. and the love and support we get from you all. thank you !..

hope you all are having a great holiday

nite all, nite sam
-me

Wednesday night – blowing up cupcakes

November 23, 2011 johncohn Leave a comment

Glorious day.. I spent most of it working in my lab building stuff.. The hilight of the day. however came a few minutes ago. Gabe decided that we should explore food ballistics.. We just spent a very pleasant hour blowing up nasty ‘little debbie’ choclate cupcakes.. We didn’t use anything fancy.. just good ‘ole american junk food.. and some of our abundant store of fireworks.

It was cold out.. so we decided to do it in the garage … with Diane’s encouragement .. … We had two cameras going.. our big slr and my little blogging camera.. That little camera happens to have a 60 frame per second ultra slow motion mode. .. perfect for culinary demolition..
Here is test number 3.. I just barely got out of the way on tests 1 and 2.

You know … I really got the perfect family for me. .. I’m very thankful for that..
nite all.. nite sam
-me

Tueday night – Donate life

November 22, 2011 johncohn Leave a comment

Today marks the third day of marking Sam’s death. Today is the day Sam saved four other lives by becoming an organ donor. His heart, liver, kidney and kidney pancreas pair made our saddest day a day of new life for those other folks.

It was an easy decision for us to make on the hardest day of our lives. We new Sam’s generous spirit would be grateful for the chance to help others. The process was as fascinating as it was sad.. As soon as we made the decision to move to donation, the staff at the hospital began the difficult task of matching Sam’s strong organs with the folks who needed them. On the afternoon of the 22nd.. four surgical team stood by to receive sam’s organs as e said our last good bye to him.. To this day I can’t go to that moment wihtout breaking down..

like now…

THrough an amazing set of circumstances around our work on the Discovery show The Colony. we got a chance to meet Bob , the guy who received one of Sam’s kidneys.. we even got to go to his wedding You can read about us meting Bob here

http://johncohn.org/base/2009/08/09/sunday-night-amazing-story/

and about this wedding here.

http://johncohn.org/base/2010/07/24/friday-night-bob-and-pam/

We also heard from Jessica, She was a transplant nurse on her first day of work when she assisted with Sam’s donation.. she also found us by watching The Colony

http://johncohn.org/base/2009/08/18/monday-night-another-amazing-story/

I still remember the skill and compassion of the transplant staff at the hospital in Tampa.. What a hard and amazing job.. . .. Our dear friend Alison (also from The Colony) just yesterday started a new career as a Transplant Coordinator in San Diego .. What guts and skill and heart that takes.. (We love you Alison !)

Then.. of course .. there was our close friend Dylan.. Sam’s good friend.. who stepped in as a friend and mentor to Gabe when Sam died. Dylan died last April.. and he two saved four people with the donation of his strong organs.. Going through that same hard path again with Dylan and his family was almost too much to bear. So familiar and just unimaginably painful.

Through these experiences, I’ve learned more than I ever hoped to know about organ donation. There will never be enough organs for all the people who need them.. the vagaries of supply, the difficulty of tissue matching. The most important thing I learned was the importance of ‘the conversation’. Many potential donations do not happen because the family does not know the donors wishes..

So.. that brings me to ‘the ask’,, You can do something for me.. for Sam.. and for Dylan… Right now.. Please turn to your family and let them know how you feel about organ donation. G-d willing it never comes up in your life.. but on the remote chance it does.. they will know.. We completely understand that some folks personal preference or religious beliefs don’t support donation.. that’s fine too.. just let your loved ones know… (If you have a moment.. you can even register your intentions at donatelife)

Thanks for doing that ..

We love you Sam.. and Dylan thanks for all you’ve done in the world..

nite all, nite sam

-mc

Monday night – 5 years

November 22, 2011 johncohn 1 Comment

Today is the fifth anniversary of the day that Sam died.. officially at least. His accident was on the 20th.. it took a day for all the tests and paperwork..

so we mark the 21st..

Today is a day I thought of even back in those early dark days.. i wondered what I’d be like .. what life would be like.. in 1 year, 5yers, 10 years.. .. Well.. it’s not what i imagined.. nothing ever is.. Sam is still so much a part of our lives.. We have joy and pleasure now.. yet Sam’s absence fills every moment. in our lives.. Not having him with us really sucks.. no other way to explain it..

He was/is such an amazing spirit.. kind, fun. strong and beautiful.. you see that spirit in his many freinds who are here with us today..

Our day of remembrance started at Eric’s house….Sam was with Eric and their freind Parker the night he died.. so Eric and Parker are very much part of our lives now. Eric couldn’t join us tonight.. so he offered to cook us breakfast.. it was great seeing him. .. as a bonus.. our friend Gavin was visiting as well.

then at 1 , we ll drove up to bolton to make our traditional hike to the top.. it was a beautiful day .. about 30 of us made the hike today..

here we all are at the top..

we did the first of our Red Bull toasts to sam..

then gabe, max and i went up the fire tour as we’ve done this day for each of the last 5 years.. No snow this year.. but it was well below freezing..

we brouht a hot air balloon to launch in Sam’s honor

and of course some (quiet ) fireworks.. Sam always loved them !

then back down the ountain .

around 6 folks started showing up for the potluck, there was a strong crowd tonight.. many of Sam’s freinds came by.. they are all now out in the world. It’s great to see how they’ve all grown. We really love these kids.. !