Guys I'm absolutely heartbroken. My dad passed away from surgical complications early Wed. morning at Vanderbilt hospital. He had a heart transplant 17 years ago and had just received his second on Tuesday. The surgery went well but his valves were too fragile for the heart to properly connect to and they weren't able to get his bleeding under control.
I've never really shared much about my personal life on here but my dad was a huge reason why I'm a Vols fan. Our shared passion for the team was an amazing way for us to bond. We would constantly text each other about commitments and would always talk on the phone after games...if the Vols won. If they lost, we both needed a day or two to cool off before mentioning it, haha.
My wife and I are expecting our first child in 6 weeks. It would have been his first grandchild. He was so excited to meet him/her (we don't know the gender yet), and now he won't be able to. My brother said that he will be our child's guardian angel.
I've read so many posts about people losing loved ones in these threads over the years and they've always touched me. Because I've always known my dad's life expectancy was going to be cut short due to his health problems and transplant. He got a second chance at life in 2003 but he paid dearly for it. He had so many procedures and operations to keep him going afterward and he took an entire pharmacy's worth of pills 100 times over. But he never complained and just kept going. Unfortunately, he ran out of gas at a time when I needed him the most, but my family believes that he was simply too tired for another fight and that he was at peace knowing his family was in a good spot.
My wife sent this pic to me last night of the three of us at the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jan. 2015. We attended many games together over the years and it was an annual tradition to meet up for at least one. I'm going to miss the hell out of him and I will never be able to watch a Vols game without him thinking of him and wanting to call him afterward to get his thoughts. Hug your loved ones, guys.
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