Goodbye Hoss

This afternoon my Friend Hoss Warner moved on to what ever comes next after this life. He fought a battle with leukemia that would have killed anyone else long ago. He did well. But sometimes the cure is worse then the disease. Doctors blew out his immune system to allow for a bone marrow transplant. The transplant was successful and the leukemia in full remission.

But without an immune system, his body was repeatedly infected from many sources. The last time was just too much. His organs shut down.

I got to know Hoss better after he got sick. He and his mother displayed an amazing amount of courage in the face of overwhelming odds. Every time I stopped by to see him, he was always making jokes and smiling. Even when covered head to toe in an itchy rash, he found something about it to poke fun at.

Lesser men would have rolled over and died. Hoss kept up on the business through trade journals and talked eagerly about getting back to the work he loved.

Goodbye Hoss. I hope the other side is peaceful. You certainly earned some rest after the rough ride you drew in this life.

-30-

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.
- Rabindranath Tagore