So I have been sitting on this post for a couple of weeks now because I just can’t seem to find the right words. I have thought about what I want to say over and over in my head, but when I sit down to actually write it, it just never does justice to what I feel. I can’t stall anymore because the clock has run out, so here I go.
My family lost my Uncle Bryan to lung cancer this Monday. It all came as quite a shock, start to finish from diagnosis to his passing was roughly three weeks. He was having some trouble breathing and after some reluctance went to see the doctor who immediately sent him to Strong Memorial for blood clots in one lung and a large mass in the other. After a lot of scares with the blood clots and small strokes, the diagnosis came back and it was as bad as it could get, he had stage 4 lung cancer and there was nothing they could do at that point but make him comfortable. So my Aunt Sue received a crash course in hospice care and my Uncle Bryan came home and passed away with his family around him.
I have never been super close to any of my aunts or uncles, maybe it was because I didn’t see them regularly, I don’t know, but when they were around I made the most of hanging around them. Uncle Bryan was one of my favorites and I never took the time to tell him that which distresses me now more than ever. I don’t want to dwell on the sad, but I would like to tell you a few stories that could only happen to Bryan and what made him great.
Bryan had my family’s blue eyes, the strong majority of us have blue eyes but Bryan’s always seemed to shine the bluest of blues, it’s probably because they were always twinkling because he was full of piss and vinegar and quick with a dirty joke or comment. His voice set him apart too, it was great. He had this gravelly/scraggly voice that could have been a cross between Donald Duck and a muppet only deeper. He had a temper and when he got angry or was really animated telling a story his voice would go slightly higher and you could almost see Donald Duck fighting mad on a cartoon.
He was a great story teller and he had so many stories he could fill a library. Two of my favorites involve fishing, he loved to fish and routinely took his kids (my cousins) fishing. One day as they were fishing he caught a really small sunfish. He took it off the hook and because he was Bryan he stuck the whole fish in his mouth to make the kids laugh or to try and gross them out. Well, while the sunfish was in his mouth, it expanded its fins and the tiny spines in the fin embedded into Bryan’s cheeks and the fish got stuck. No amount of pulling or tugging would get this fish out of his mouth, so as his kids and my Aunt laughed their heads off at this fish stuck in his mouth, he had to go to hospital to have the fish cut out of his mouth. I can still see his face as he told the story of how the doctor began to cut the fish and how awful it tasted.
The other story, shockingly involves fishing and the hospital again. Bryan had the kids fishing and had to bait the one of their lines, so he set his pole down on a rock. He finishes baiting the hook and sits down on the rock where his pole was only to end up sitting straight down on a three pronged hook. He jumps up and starts yelling and cursing because this hook is set deep in his backside. Again, after many attempts of trying to remove the hook themselves, Bryan had to go to the ER to have a doctor pull out the hook prong by prong while Bryan was red faced and steaming on the gurney. It could only happen to him.
He would tell those stories and get so animated, you could practically see it as if you were there. Then he would just start laughing and you had to laugh with him and by the time you were finished laughing you would have tears in your eyes and your sides would hurt.
He was a great man and he will forever be missed. Rest in peace, Uncle Bryan.
My family lost my Uncle Bryan to lung cancer this Monday. It all came as quite a shock, start to finish from diagnosis to his passing was roughly three weeks. He was having some trouble breathing and after some reluctance went to see the doctor who immediately sent him to Strong Memorial for blood clots in one lung and a large mass in the other. After a lot of scares with the blood clots and small strokes, the diagnosis came back and it was as bad as it could get, he had stage 4 lung cancer and there was nothing they could do at that point but make him comfortable. So my Aunt Sue received a crash course in hospice care and my Uncle Bryan came home and passed away with his family around him.
I have never been super close to any of my aunts or uncles, maybe it was because I didn’t see them regularly, I don’t know, but when they were around I made the most of hanging around them. Uncle Bryan was one of my favorites and I never took the time to tell him that which distresses me now more than ever. I don’t want to dwell on the sad, but I would like to tell you a few stories that could only happen to Bryan and what made him great.
Bryan had my family’s blue eyes, the strong majority of us have blue eyes but Bryan’s always seemed to shine the bluest of blues, it’s probably because they were always twinkling because he was full of piss and vinegar and quick with a dirty joke or comment. His voice set him apart too, it was great. He had this gravelly/scraggly voice that could have been a cross between Donald Duck and a muppet only deeper. He had a temper and when he got angry or was really animated telling a story his voice would go slightly higher and you could almost see Donald Duck fighting mad on a cartoon.
He was a great story teller and he had so many stories he could fill a library. Two of my favorites involve fishing, he loved to fish and routinely took his kids (my cousins) fishing. One day as they were fishing he caught a really small sunfish. He took it off the hook and because he was Bryan he stuck the whole fish in his mouth to make the kids laugh or to try and gross them out. Well, while the sunfish was in his mouth, it expanded its fins and the tiny spines in the fin embedded into Bryan’s cheeks and the fish got stuck. No amount of pulling or tugging would get this fish out of his mouth, so as his kids and my Aunt laughed their heads off at this fish stuck in his mouth, he had to go to hospital to have the fish cut out of his mouth. I can still see his face as he told the story of how the doctor began to cut the fish and how awful it tasted.
The other story, shockingly involves fishing and the hospital again. Bryan had the kids fishing and had to bait the one of their lines, so he set his pole down on a rock. He finishes baiting the hook and sits down on the rock where his pole was only to end up sitting straight down on a three pronged hook. He jumps up and starts yelling and cursing because this hook is set deep in his backside. Again, after many attempts of trying to remove the hook themselves, Bryan had to go to the ER to have a doctor pull out the hook prong by prong while Bryan was red faced and steaming on the gurney. It could only happen to him.
He would tell those stories and get so animated, you could practically see it as if you were there. Then he would just start laughing and you had to laugh with him and by the time you were finished laughing you would have tears in your eyes and your sides would hurt.
He was a great man and he will forever be missed. Rest in peace, Uncle Bryan.
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