Well, I've been a TPU member since May 2007 if my memory serves me well - right now I'm a 34 year old with a 7 y/old daughter and a husband, and I run my own business.
No one in my near/extended family is afflicted with cancer, muscular dystrophy or any other fatal/heavily debilitating disease.
I decided to start contributing to WCG after reading about Loonym
that compounded with other experiences of mine.
I can understand what it feels like to have someone in hospital. My daughter suffers from severe asthma, no matter how careful we are to keep her away from allergens in 7 years we took her 4 times to the main hospital, as an emergency case, where her oxygen level was found to be in the danger zone of the 70's (it should be over 90), I'd spend 3-5 days with her at hospital days and nights while she gets oxygen and ventolin treatments every hour, then every two, then every three, till she gets weaned off... When she was a baby and later a toddler it wasn't that serious, she'd get short-breath, I'd give her her inhalers, they wouldn't work, I'd take her 3 or 4 times to the clinic for an hour treatment with oxygen, ventolin and pulmicort and she'd be fine after the treatments.
But then when she got older we'd be taking her to the clinic for treatments, they won't work, after 30 minutes she'd be gasping for breath, and we'd have no choice except going to the emergency of the hospital. She'd need to spend between 4 - 7 days and nights at the hospital and I'd stay next to her all the time.
I'd be going blue myself from holding the tears back so as not to make her panic, before I see her breathing stabilise. Only then I might able to get a couple of hours sleep on the reclining sofa next to her hospital bed.
Now it's heartbreaking when you see your beloved baby gasping for breath, it's terrifying even if one is in hospital let alone if you're still on the way and your kid is gasping and going blue in the face
One might justly say that asthma is nothing compared with fatalities occuring in more serious diseases like cancer etc, but sadly too often 'mistakes' occur like some doctor diagnoses croup, and after 2 days the kid dies for the low oxygen, other times the parents didn't realise the urgency of the situation and/or didn't make it to hospital in time, with the result that their child suffocated before they managed to get help
This latter instance has always been my horror ever since my kid had her first attack at 6 months.
I can imagine how much more heartbreaking would it be were a child, heaven forbid, to start suffering from some condition which as of now is defined as uncurable. I've always put my mind at rest that as long as I got my kid to hospital in time she'd be safe and she can recover.
But in the cases of diseases which we crunch for it's not that simple.
That's why I decided to start giving my utmost here, and am sad that I hadn't started earlier.
Hopefully one day such diseases, even though always heart-breaking, will share the same hopes of recovery as other curable ailments.
I will keep contributing in the hope that a cure be found.
Well, my name is Jamie and I am 41 yrs old. I've been hanging around TPU for a couple of years now. I am a twice divorced(yes, 2x) father of 3 children(18,17,&13). I manage a roofing supply company in Stuart, Fla. I am currently single(3 yrs)and love my free time(alone). My friends describe my as OCD when it comes to the projects that I undertake. This would explain my obsession with F@H and WCG. I am a Halo CE PC fanatic and you can usually find me on the popular CE servers at night under Buck N@sty. My version of overkill is playing Halo PC on a Tri-Sli 260 GTX Rig (talk about cycles going to waste
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