February 14, 2023
Dear Praying Friends, On Wedesday or Thursday, my brother Steve and I were talking by phone and he casually mentioned that he had a cold and it had gone to his chest. Then, on Friday, I got a text from one of his daughters asking if one of his brothers could please call her dad as she felt he needed to go to the hospital to get checked out. My brother Joe called Steve and after he hung up, he called me and encouraged me to add my own voice to his.
Our brother Steve hated anything to do with medicine and to be honest, was the healthiest of us 10 siblings. He never even got malaria! So it was no easy task to get him to agree to go, but I thought, might as well try, so I picked up my phone and called him. We joked back and forth for a few minutes and I told him. “Hey, don’t worry your daughter, go on and get it checked, at least it will make her feel better.” He assured me he had already told Joe he would go. So they went in.
Around 3 Am on Saturday morning, I got a call from my sister in law Marie saying Steve had had a major heart attack at the hospital and she was driving up in the AM to Salem, VA. Keila and I also decided to drive up from Macon, GA. Early the next morning, we got another call saying his heart had stopped and he was on life support and they were calling the family, basically to come and say goodby.
I called Mia up in Lake Villa, IL and told her what was happening. Our kids all had a very close relationship with their uncle Steve and Mia especially loves Steve. Our son Stephen’s wife Loran got busy finding her tickets. Since we did not want to wait until she could fly into Atlanta, Loran got her on a flight to Charlotte, NC. It worked out beautifully. She arrived about 20 minutes before we got there and was standing outside waiting for us.
We got to the hospital in Salem and went in to say our goodbyes. We were surprised and very happy to hear he had responded well and was now conscious. I spoke with him and while he could not talk due to the ventilator tube he nodded in response to my questions and comments. This was the start of three days of frantic ups and downs, which ended today with my oldest brother Steve being ushered into Glory.
We are in shock and yet we know our God does all things well. We know HE is in control. Please pray for our family as we grieve. Pray especially for his 4 daughters and their families. These are hard days. Most of you will remember they lost their mom in November of 2021. Prayers are coveted and appreciated.
Thanks so much for your partnership in this work.
Michael and Keila