The outpouring of your love and support continues to overwhelm us (truly, at times). Again, there's not much new to report, but because so many of you want to know (and since we are not having visitors), I felt it appropriate to post an update.
Michael's vitals are still solid and his spirits are high. He is a bit unsteady on his feet and he is sleeping quite a bit. His mental game isn't the sharpest, but he still is funny and loving - always giving my mom a kiss, hugging me, even giving Joe Whyte a fist-bump (hey, we gotta watch Coronavirus, ya know!) He fiddles on his phone and iPad, so don't be surprised by a random text or Facebook message from our boy!
While we don't have a time-line for this, we are as comfortable as we can be, with food, desserts, your check-ins...thank you. We admit, it's not the easiest for us to witness Michael this way...our boy who is not really the same...but he's "still fuckin' here" as he once candidly told us. AND GOD BLESS MY PARENTS FOR BEING THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE THEY ARE - THEY NEVER FAIL TO AMAZE ME WITH THEIR STRENGTH.
I'll continue our request: Please share your stories of Michael, of your good times, trips and moments with him, with me via email or comment section of this blog.
Think of Michael today and when you do, do some good for a person in your life or even a stranger!
4 comments:
Story 1
When we were in the eighth grade, Michael and the neighborhood kids took an overnight trip to Great Adventure in New Jersey. We were a tight crew, spending our summers growing up riding bikes far and wide, playing kickball, pool hopping, and collecting our loose change to grab some much sought after ice cream at Carvel or a burger at Briarwoods. They were fun, carefree times. This particular summer, The Neeley's invited us to join their daughter Anna on this amusement park excursion. There were five of us kids - 3 girls, 2 boys and Anna's parents. We were to hop in their old station wagon and spend two days running up and down the hallways of one lucky hotel and hitting up all our favorite roller coasters. But we almost didn't go on the trip. When we all started to put our things in the car, Michael said, 'Oh no, do not step foot in this car...we've got to clean this thing out!' So Mr. Clean himself, got out wipes, spray and vacuum cleaner and proceeded to clean out the Neeley's family car for the next hour before we all could step foot in it. Thankfully, Michael go the car cleaned to his liking and we all had a blast on that trip. We still laugh at this story to this day!
Story 2
Michael came to visit my family and I down in Virginia this past November. It was such a great visit all around and I'm grateful for the quality time we got to spend catching up. The the thing that stood out most to me is how incredibly friendly Mike is to strangers and his amazing ability to spread joy to people who he has never met. I've always known this about him from when we were kids but to see it in action is pretty remarkable.
- on behalf of Amy L. :)
(Part 2 from Amy L):
- While walking over to my son's soccer fields, Michael stopped a truck driving through the parking lot. I was trying to figure out what was going on. Turns out, the guy in the truck had a firefighter's sticker on the bumper. He held his hand up to the driver, crossed over to the driver's side window and put his hand out to the guy saying, 'Michael Whyte, pleased to meet you. I am the son of a firefighter and want to thank you for your service.' The guys face lit up with a big smile and he thanked Mike. You can tell he made the guys day.
- During the game, my son's team was getting beat pretty badly and it was also freezing cold. The parents were a bit stressed and everyone was uncomfortable. Mike started to do a little chant and stood up telling jokes about the cold weather. He got everyone cracking up, talking and ultimately, to chill out a little. When the game was said and done, there must have been at least a handful of people coming up to shake Mike's hand and the loss didn't seem as bad as it normally did in the past. He also got people to talk to each other who didn't give each other a second glance previously.
- That night, we grabbed a bite to eat at our local pub across the street. When Michael met Liz (our usual waitress whom we know well and is a total doll) he went into full Michael mode, "Wow, she is cute and has got a great tush. Is she single?" We of course, proceeded to laugh hysterically. She came back to the table and Michael proceeded to learn ALL about Liz and got a tons of laughs out of her. Fast forward over the past couple of months, Liz always asks me about my friend Michael every time I go in.
- Final story was about my boys - Matt (age 11) and Brendan (age 9). Matt met Mike when he was 2 years old, so was too young to remember. Brendan was wondering 'who is this Michael guy hanging out with us for the weekend?' :) We pulled out all our old photo albums from the neighborhood growing up and they loved hearing the stories of our escapades and how different things were 'back then' without video games and such. Over the weekend, Mike asked them tons of questions about school, sports, friends, their favorite games. He wrestled with them and gave them piggy back rides. I couldn't believe how good he was with them and how quickly they took to him, when they aren't usually that way with 'strangers'.
Mike has an amazing ability to get people to open up, share his joy for life and put a smile on everyone's face. He is one of a kind and I am grateful to have Mike as a forever friend in my life.
Good times from Harold G. -
Grabbing burgers w/ Mikey at Fanelli Cafe in Soho, first time we met...
Hanging at Life on Bleeker St. late night w/ a crowd, me breaking my foot after being overserved and falling off a speaker (yup)....and Mikey and Chris W. letting me crash on their couch rather than limp home to Hoboken...
Mikey visiting Tokyo a few times and treating me and Steve Mc. (who Mikey intro'd me to and with whom I'm still good friends)....to a "gentle massage" of his corporate AmEx. card for a handful of group robatayaki dinners at Inakaya in Roppongi (just google that restaurant and look at the number of dollar signs on reviews if you can find them...)
Final Four with Mark Scherban
One of the best times was going to with you to San Antonio! Please send me the pic with Jim Boeheim if you can find it . . .I would have posted, but I can't find it anywhere. We had a blast on the riverwalk! We partied with Donny, Kirk King and Ricky Moore after the championship game. We raced armadillos. When we were waiting for our friend (D.A.) at his hotel after the game, we were at the hotel lobby bar, all decked out in Blue and White, when the Georgia Tech team walked in . . . awkward!
A story for the rest of you, at halftime of the championship game we run into Boeheim. Mike asks, "hey coach, can we get a picture?" Boeheim looks happy in-between the two Huskies fans. A girl asks the same question. Jim's response, "I am just trying to go to the bathroom." We were the only picture he took.
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