Survivor R.I.P Aug 15, 1922 - Jan 8, 2010

Edited

I stood there in front of him when the heart rate monitor went flat. He was pronounced dead at 3pm this afternoon.

He's been in and of the hospital a few times in recent years, and miraculously pulled through as if nothing happened, he was a fighter. You'd think this only happens to a healthy young man.

You can say he's been through it all, seen it all and lived it all, literally. He fought in the wars, survived the holocaust, and like then he never gave up, he fought everything he could, but today god thought it was time for him to go.  When people thought his time was up years ago, he caught us surprise and kept on living. He weighed over 350lbs, he was quite obese, especially for someone in their 80's.

Again, everyone thought he was going to pull through, no one believed he was going to die because of every other time he fought and made it.

Fortunately, I've not seen a dead body and it is an experience no one should go through. When I made it to the hospital today, he laid there dependant on the life support system, he was motionless. He always had something to say, this time he was silent. Thirty minutes after I arrived at the hospital he died. I was at hospital with the rest of the family late last night. He was on the support system since he got there, 3 doctors at Sunnybrook Hospital told my family to prepare for the worst and that he will not make it. I said "ya right, you don't know my grandfather".

I was wrong.

He was a very smart, brave and strong man.

Whenever he got bored in his retirement home he often went out on his scooter, a few days ago he did just that but unfortunately he got sick from pneumonia.

My grandmother who's 82, is extremely distraught, for the 50 or so years they've been married she never left his sight, she was his right arm, sort of speak. She will be moving out of the retirement home and into my parents, and most likely I will be having a few people over at my place for a few weeks. It will crowded here.

Tomorrow, I will be with family, my mother and I will be gathering his stuff from the retirement home and donate it to the GoodWill.

 When it comes to this, my way of saying good-bye is to celebrate the loss and not mourn. By celebrating the life of the person who leaves us, it allows you overcome the loss and deal with it by healing in a positive way. I'd prefer the positive approach. Mourning in my opinion is very negative.

I decided to email my aunt in Israel and let her know what was going on. I am also going to suggest to my mother to talk to her again since that whole ordeal of what happened while I was in Israel. Forgiveness allows us to set free. And I think now that the uncle and grandfather are gone, they need each other for support or else they'll regret it, they're all what they got.