This man was born in 1961, on the 11th day of May. He grew up in a strange family, one that was taught not to show emotion,and to never weep. They were led by a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel. The family had their own well-known bluegrass band, and the 7th of 8 sons joined the band in 1971. He had played fiddle since the age of 4. He was consistently called a prodigy. His father made this young man at 12 play 14 instruments in a song on stage.
This family band began in 1955,it ended in 1980,when the young prodigy took his youngest brother and formed a heavy metal band. This was the undoing of the family and the family band. This young man was disowned by his father,and it sent him on a downhill slide into cocaine and alcohol addiction. The band was a successful, albeit unsigned band from 1980-1987. Drugs killed the band,in essence. The virtuoso guitarist in the band slowly disentegrated into drugs and satanic worship,leaving our hero in a mess. Our hero was the lead vocalist and drummer,and near the end,he was also guitarist.
During this period,our hero was also a college student. He had went to a small southern college from 1979-1985,and graduated with a masters in ancient history,law enforcement,criminal law,and bachelor's in latin,american and world history,and was 4 credits short of a doctorate when he got into a battle with the ancient history professor,when the professor was clearly wrong,and our hero walked out of class,forever.
In the spring of 1983,he met his future wife,and married her 16 days after the first date,they are still together today,with many obstacles along the way. And as strong as ever.
Summer of 1985,he joined a county sheriff's department in the same county as the school,all the while joining the National Guard,and working as a cook,bartender,and bouncer for a little nightclub. The hero's band was house band. Along with taking trips to open for selected well-known heavy metal bands. Our hero retired from the guards in 1988,as a Sergeant,when he had gotten a job as a state patrolman in another state,for a southern country boy,Cicero,Illinois was a whole new ball of wax.
In 1985, he became a father for the first time, his first son. He was on cloud nine.
In early February 1989,our hero was involved in a shootout/standoff with four gang members and killed all four,after his partner was killed and he was shot in the hip three times. Commendations flowed.
In the summer of 1989 at a convention,he met the man who would become his best friend for life and the reason he took a transfer to the southern end of the state. Then in October, his first daughter was born.
Many troubles plagued our hero,from severe bleeding ulcers, to shootings,and he remained an alcoholic,but his cocaine was behind him,he left it in the guards.
In 1995 his twin sons were born, a year after a close friend whom he had had an affair with lost a daughter. He had lost four daughters in fifteen years, one he would not really know about until 2006.
In 1999 he became a detective and was Captain of Detectives for many years,in 2005 the same month he moved to a farm opposite the close friend he had met in 1989,he became Assistant District Commander. This,however, was short-lived.
In December 2005 he was struck by a woman who knew him while he was traveling to back up a city officer,something he rarely did. This woman hit him at over 70 mph in the T-Post,and accelerated through the intersection towards him.
This woman felt he had taken away what she termed her God-given right to use,sell,and make meth and pot,even with small children in her home. She had the 2 1/2 year old daughter and nearly four year old son in her 3/4 ton truck,unsecured when she slammed into our hero.
Not thinking of his own welfare,and thinking of the children,because they were upset and crying,not realizing the brain injury he had sustained nor mindful that she had ruined his hip the rest of the way, he carried the children around the crash site,and they were calm.
Less than forty hours later,our hero was in a major city hospital,110 miles from his beloved farm, in a coma on life support. He had suffered a major head injury,cerebral hemmorhage,then a medium sized stroke. At 12:42 P.M. on a December day, he flatlined. His power of attorney, after flatlining many times during surgeries before, he had requested to let him go. His wife, also a doctor, refused. He spent many days in Neurology ICU.
When he came home he had no voice,and he could not speak or sing. This man was still a singer and had started another band in 2004. His left hand, the one he used, was curled into a ball,and his left foot was turned completely inward. His mouth drooped down far to the left. He was a prisoner on a runaway train running out of track with no brakes.
On January 8th, he renewed his vows with his beloved wife, the next week he had retired from his job he loved so much and became a grandfather. All at 44.
On February 25th, he saw his best friend married to another best friend,and the Monday after, he had experimental surgery on his vocal cords, in a desperate attempt to help him speak right and to sing again. Only time will tell.
Since then all feeling has returned to his hand and foot and both are back to normal,and his mouth has returned to normal as well. After counseling, he is a whole man again who has accepted his fate. He is happier than he has been in thirty years,and is enjoying a relationship with a son born out of wedlock during a one night stand less than six months after he was married. The boy had a twin sister, who had passed away before birth.
He is now CEO and General Operations Manager of a large thoroughbred and cattle farm..Life is Good again...
- PF I felt better afterwards though - 