August 26 to October 3rd, 2008
I went fishing for salmon on the Lower Columbia on Wednesday with my brother and nephew. We were skunked for salmon but caught 6 good sized crab. I tell this because I was the guy who was returning home that evening so I brought the crab home, boiled them and gave them away. Crab are bottom feeders so I could have caught NF from them. I wasn't too careful to wash my hands while handling them, although the people I gave the crab to didn't seem to suffer any ill effects. I began to feel ill on Friday, after fishing. Saturday I had a meeting which I left immediately afterward to go home. By Sunday, I was feeling pretty bad, so I went to the urgent care clinic at Kaiser, for help. I complained of being dizzy and aching all over. They gave me seasick tablets and sent me home. I didn't take off my shirt or undress at the time. I did have a large red swelling at my right arm pit. I don't think they would have noticed anything about it anyway.

I spent Monday in and out of bed, which I do when I don't feel well. Tuesday my bride was called on to stay with our grandsons so I was alone all day. About 10:00 or 12:00 I slipped and fell in my bedroom. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get myself off of the floor, standing upright. I walked around for another 1/2 hour or so and fell again. Try as I could, I could not get up. After struggling for another 2 hours I gave up. Several people called me, but I couldn't even reach my phone on the desk above my head. The worst part was the mess I made. I had diarrhea and my back was killing me. The bump under my right arm was growing and very sore. I was horribly thirsty and wasn't able to get anything to drink. After about 2 hours my bride came home and somehow we got me up, cleaned up and called urgent care. They told my bride to take me to emergency. I think the story of me laying on the floor for 2 hours convinced them that I was pretty sick. The last thing I remember was my bride wheeling me into the emergency room, sitting there in the wheel chair and drinking and drinking. The doctor came in and was really ticked because I have been drinking so much.

I want to tell the story I was told of the courageous medical team that fought and fought for the next 8 to 10 days to save me. 8 separate operations in 8 days. One of my pastors tell of the tubes running out of me, more than a, "Borg," on the Star Trek, TV series. My daughter, "Nurse Rachette," tells of protein leaking out of my side faster than they could put it back in my system, so they used a bio-fiber skin graft to seal me. I had a feeding tube through my nose for 21/2 weeks.

I want to tell the story of my family, cousins, brothers and sister, and brothers and sisters in Christ, that ministered to me. I had Christian brothers and sisters in Haiti fervently praying for me as hurricanes were ravaging their homes and crops. My sister and son-in-law slept in the room every night while I was fighting for my life. My brothers stayed at the hospital every day. I remember hearing my sister, reading from the book of Isaiah, as I lay there with horrible hiccups because of the tracheotomy tube in my throat. I was told that my daughter read the book of Romans to me, but I don't remember. The prognosis was, I was probably going to have to be in an assisted care facility for a while after being released from the hospital. My daughter, a nurse was busy interviewing prospective facilities, between visits. Not much else went on around the family while I was out.

My kids had a crew come in and clean up around our old shack, preparing it for possible sale. My bride and daughter found an apartment where we would be able to get a hospital bed into one bedroom as well have a bathroom with wheelchair access. Can you imagine how that impacted me when I was able to comprehend the facts. October 3rd, 2008, I WALKED out of the Burn Unit, Emanuel Hospital, Portland, Oregon, with skin grafts over 20% of my body. They say that I had lost 20% of my body mass; from right arm pit to right hip, 1" deep and 5" to 12" wide. I have scars on both arms where they investigated the advance of the disease. December 31, 2008 the doctor told me to go live life.

Today, if I am dressed, the only outward indication of the disease is a diamond shaped scar about 5" long on my left arm. I am so grateful to the hoards of Christian brothers and sisters that prayed for me. October 3rd, 2008 is my 3rd birthday. My first birthday, January 17, 1941, I was born to walk on this earth. May 16, 1990, I accepted Christ as my savior in my heart, is my second birthday. I have the same feeling as many of you here. Now What? Why was I saved, when so many aren't? Not only was I saved, I can walk up and down stairs, lift, bend, work with my hands laugh and cry as before. These are scars that are going to take a while to heal, maybe a lifetime.