6 Years Ago They Gave Him 60 Days to Live | Bryan Berry | 031

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His words to me that night where
you've got about 60 days and it

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registered with me what he meant
and there was a pause and he

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said we have to keep you alive
long enough to get you a new

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liver.
Welcome to When You Look, where

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ordinary people share their
extraordinary experiences and

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you get to decide, was it
coincidence or God?

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Ryan, welcome to When You Look.
So great to have you here, man.

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Thanks a bunch for coming on the
show.

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No, Mick, thanks so much for
having me.

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I've been looking forward to
this.

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Yeah, well, we are very, very
excited to have you here.

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Even more importantly, very
excited for people to hear your

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amazing story.
Before we jump into that,

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though, tell us a little bit
about yourself.

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Yeah, So I'm Brian Berry.
My wife is Anne.

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We are about to celebrate our
35th anniversary.

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That's a big point.
This year.

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We have two boys, 27 and 30, our
27 year olds getting married in

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August.
We recently moved to Charlotte

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after an entirety of life in
Richmond.

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All of our married life was
there.

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We met at JMU, graduated, moved
to Richmond back in 1990 without

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jobs.
So we've we've got a lot of

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history behind ourselves.
We're excited to be down here

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though.
The two boys moved down here

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three years ago, and we were in
a position where we were missing

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them but actually sought their
permission to come down here.

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We didn't want to.
We didn't want to come down and

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have them feel crowded.
So that's been great.

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For about 27 years, I ran an
investment advisory practice.

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I sold that about 6 1/2 years
ago, got into nonprofit

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consulting work, some networking
and leadership development.

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I know that's three sort of
interesting things, but I've

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managed to combine them all into
something that's worked well in

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transferring down here to
Charlotte as well.

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Still sort of an ongoing journey
on what that's ultimately going

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to look like one day when I'm
fully grind.

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But yeah, that's us.
We're we're excited, excited to

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be down in Charlotte, excited to
develop some new, new

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beginnings, New Horizons.
And it just continuations of our

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story.
And yeah, I'm looking forward to

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sharing some more about what the
past 6 1/2 or 7 years have been

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like.
Yeah, fabulous.

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Well, let's jump right into
that.

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Give us a little bit of back
story on those last 6 1/2 or 7

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years and then walk us through
things from there.

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Yeah.
Well, so in the world of

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investment advising and
financial planning and you spend

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your life helping others create
these financial plans and reach

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their goal, you know, to reach
their goals for retirement and

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everything else.
And, and we were no different

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doing it for ourselves.
So in the summer of 2018, we

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were in a good spot.
Our oldest son had just

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graduated from college.
Our youngest son was entering

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his junior year at JMU.
And we were, we were able to do

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pretty much anything we wanted
to at that point.

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We were travelling more often,
my mother-in-law had was living

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with us at the time.
We were in a good spot to take

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care of her as she was going
through Alzheimer's and happy to

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be able to do that.
We were able to build a great

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place for her to move in and so
during the spring and summer of

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2018 we traveled to the
Caribbean a lot.

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We found a new love down in the
Dominican Republic and enjoyed

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being there and started having
dreams about maybe being down

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there permanently one day.
And those dreams are still out

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there.
But you know, you get so busy in

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life during that time that you
kind of the one thing that I

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wasn't paying attention to was
just my own body.

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Like I, I worked out we did
stuff.

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I mean, we're, I'd be tired, but
think I'm just, we're doing too

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much.
I need to take a break.

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So we ended up going out to
California for a week and in

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July and I came home just not
feeling well.

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I was just more tired than
normal.

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Again, being a guy, I was like,
I'm going to fix this myself.

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There's no way I'm going to a
doctor.

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I, I don't need to go.
We, we had our, our family

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physician was a good friend of
ours and I was like, well, when

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I get, when I need him, I'll
call, but I can just take some

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Tylenol and fix this.
Or, you know, I just need to

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rest a little bit.
Or even in days where I felt

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lethargic, I just need to go for
a walk.

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From the middle of July till
about the middle of August, I

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noticed a couple of things
changing that I couldn't fix.

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I started gaining weight rapidly
and, but I wasn't eating and I

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would, I would, I would make
sure like I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm not

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going to eat, gaining weight,
not eating.

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So I started retaining fluid.
I, you know, started was tired

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all the time, just kept trying
to push through because that's

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what we do.
I'm not.

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And I was too, I guess, not
willing to recognize it enough

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because I had, I had other
things I needed to do.

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About the middle of August, I
moved my youngest son into to

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JMU for, to start his junior
year.

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And you, one of the things that
was in the back of my mind is

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like, I'm, I'm not feeling well,
but I'll deal with it once I get

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him to school.
It my thought process was if you

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think back that when you were in
college, that junior first

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semester of your junior year,
you were so neck deep in your

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major course that you know you
just can't be distracted, right?

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And I didn't want to bother him
with it.

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My oldest son was trying to
start his career, didn't want to

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bother him with it.
And I thought they'll they're

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both once they get going, then
I'll go to the doctor and figure

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out what's going on.
So Fast forward ish to the

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middle of September, my wife was
at a skin care conference for

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something a side business she
had down in New Orleans for the

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weekend.
It was a Saturday morning.

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I went out to mow my yard.
And you know, we live in these

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neighborhoods where the yards
aren't big, right?

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It takes 20 minutes with the
push mower to cut all your

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grass.
About 45 minutes into trying to

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cut my front yard because I had
to continue to stop to catch my

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breath, I finally went inside,
got my older son to come down.

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I said, hey, can you finish
mowing?

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I just need to go in and sit
down.

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And I, I sat down and I sent a
text to my, to my doctor and I

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said, hey, I need to come see
you Monday morning.

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And I even sent him a picture of
my legs.

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My legs were just, they were
swollen.

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They were, I mean, there's way
more detail that I won't get

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into on the call 'cause I want
your listeners to, you know, not

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leave your show from here in all
that detail.

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But but they were swollen.
And so he answered back and he

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said you should go to the ER
now.

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No, I'm fine.
I'll do, I'll see you Monday

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morning.
And then I called, called Anne,

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my wife, and said, hey, I made
an appointment thinking that she

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would be happy that I made an
appointment and it instead of

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making her happy, which I think
maybe it did a little bit, but

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it sort of freaked her out.
And she ended up changing her

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plans and, and changed her
flight plans and came back the

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next day instead of staying a
few extra days.

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So I went to pick her up at the
airport, sent her a text and

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said, hey, I, I can't walk in
there because I, I just can't

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walk that far to go.
And when she came out from

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luggage, I stood outside the car
and she looked at me and she

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like sort of horrified, said,
we're going to the ER right now.

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I put on about 70 lbs of fluid
during this time frame.

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And that over the week or so up
to that point, it put on even

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more like it was in my face.
It was like I had basically no

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neck, my hands were swollen.
And no, I'm going to go tomorrow

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morning.
We'll be fine.

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The history behind that is I've
had several surgeries on joints

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and, you know, broken bones and
things over the years, a torn

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rotator cuff in my shoulder,
which literally the morning of

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that surgery, I was in the
shower and I said, you know, it

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doesn't feel that bad.
I don't think I need to go get

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the surgery.
And that was pretty much this

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regular thing before every
surgery in the past.

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You know, it's the finger, it'll
heal itself.

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It's you know, it's going to.
And it was a little bit of a

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joke.
And I've got all the scars on my

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elbows and everything else to
show all the surgeries.

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But that morning, I told her the
same thing.

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I was in the shower.
I said, you know, I feel better

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today.
I don't think I need to go.

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And then laughed at myself for
saying that.

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But just to give your listeners
some background behind me,

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that's how stubborn I am when it
comes to that stuff.

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So we, we got to the doctor's
office, got checked in, got back

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to the examination room.
Doctor Simpson walked in.

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He took one look at me and said,
you're in trouble.

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And I thought he was going to
sort of make fun at how just how

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overweight I was at that point.
And I even told him, I said,

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yeah, I don't know how I put on
all this weight.

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I'm not eating.
Like if I try to eat anything,

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it comes right up.
And the look on his face didn't

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get any better.
So we went through a quick

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series of tests, blood work, an
abdominal X-ray.

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And he came in and said, I want
to send you for a liver scan.

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And I just looked at him and I
said, why do I need to have a

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liver scan?
And nothing is clicking with me

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at that point.
And he he just looked at, he

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said, have you noticed your
skin?

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And I said, well, I noticed that
I'm seeping.

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There is literally fluid coming
out of my skin.

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And he goes, well, yeah, that's
part of the issue.

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And he looked at Ann and he
goes, do you notice how yellow

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he is?
I'm like, so I have jaundice,

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like not putting that with any
like, OK, what do you, is there

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a pill for that?
Like just give me a shot.

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And that goes away.
And so, so I, we had a few more

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minutes discussion and
understood the seriousness of

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it, but you're still trying to
rationalize that he's talking

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about you, even though all the
evidence is right in front of

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you, right.
So this is which there's some

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things about, you know,
believing by sight and not by

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faith on that one.
But I was looking at the

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evidence and didn't get like I
wasn't accepting it, just seeing

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it later, a couple hours later,
completed the liver scan.

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Ask the, the, the tech there,
because you have to drink this

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dye, which I'd ask and please
don't make me drink this.

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I can't hold it down.
So the negotiation of like how

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much time I had to wait.
That was a little bit of humor

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there because when they told me
that I had to drink it, wait 20

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minutes and drink this other can
and wait 10 minutes and then go

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in.
I said, no, I'll drink this.

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I'm going to wait 2 minutes and
then drink this one.

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And then you have to get me in
there because I can't hold it

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down.
They were like, well, it's going

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to take you longer than that.
And I took this first thing that

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was like a maybe a quart size
and it's going to take you 20

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minutes to drink it.
And I was and just, I mean, I

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killed it right there and the
ladies just looked at me.

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Your eyes got real big.
And I did not picked up the

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other jar and drank it right
then.

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And I said, OK, you have like 5
minutes, you have got to get me

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in there.
To the point where when I was

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done and I came out, I asked the
tech, I know you can't tell me

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what you saw, but did you see
everything that you needed to

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see?
And she said yes.

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And I said, where's the trash
can?

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And she slid me the trash can.
I stuck my head right in it and

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gave all the die back.
So in the two or three minutes

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that it took us to walk out to
the car, we got in the car.

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Doctor Simpson called, it came
over the Bluetooth on the car.

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And he said, he said, I need you
to get to an ER right now.

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And I said, OK, which one?
He said, we'll pick 1.

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And I said, no, we'll go to
Memorial Regional, It's closer

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to the house.
What?

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00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:51,120
Why are we going?
And he said this isn't a final

223
00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:53,720
diagnosis.
But from what I've just seen,

224
00:11:54,560 --> 00:11:59,480
you have end stage liver failure
and stage 4 kidney failure.

225
00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:04,520
And it just got silent in the
car.

226
00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:06,600
Like you could have heard dust
falling.

227
00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:13,760
And Anna, I just, she's driving
and I'm sitting there going like

228
00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:16,160
that, like that sound you just
heard was what it was like in

229
00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:18,360
the car.
And he even said, he goes,

230
00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:22,760
Brian, are you still there?
And I said, yes, what do we do?

231
00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:26,000
He's well, I'm sending a
specialist to meet, meet

232
00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,320
Memorial regional for your
kidney and your liver, he said,

233
00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:30,600
But we've got a lot of work to
do.

234
00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:35,680
So we drove there and on.
You know, the good, the good

235
00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:39,280
thing about your phone, your
cell phone and Google is that

236
00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:40,960
you can find information really
quick.

237
00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,960
The bad thing about your phone
and Google is that you can find

238
00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:47,560
information really quick.
Because the new, the news I was

239
00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:49,640
finding and the information I
was finding, none of it was

240
00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:52,920
good.
And, and there was no good news.

241
00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,680
When you have end stage liver
failure and, and stage 4 kidney

242
00:12:56,680 --> 00:12:58,880
failure and you're, you're just
thinking you had a bad stomach

243
00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,760
ache, like, you know, that's so
the, the acceptance of that is,

244
00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:07,000
is something it's, it's, it's
overwhelming by the end of the

245
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:08,960
night.
So we get checked in by the, and

246
00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:14,240
run through so many different
tests, biopsies, endoscopies,

247
00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:18,640
Mris, more blood work.
By the way, this is the other

248
00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:20,720
thing for anyone out there
that's ever dealt with liver

249
00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:25,360
failure.
I have empathy for what most

250
00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:27,880
people assume you've done to
yourself if you have liver

251
00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,440
failure because those questions
are rampant.

252
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:33,560
Do you drink?
How much do you drink?

253
00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:34,720
When was the last time you
drank?

254
00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:36,200
I'm like, guys, what are you
talking about?

255
00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:37,800
Like, what did my blood work
say?

256
00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:38,880
Do I drink?
Yes.

257
00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:40,800
We have an occasional glass of
wine with dinner, like.

258
00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:45,240
But to finally having the liver
specialist come in and make them

259
00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:48,960
stop asking me those questions
because he's seen everything and

260
00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:50,280
he's going.
It's not, you know, because I

261
00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:52,720
know you didn't do this to
yourself, but you just have to

262
00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:54,040
try to figure out what's going
on.

263
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,720
But those questions will wear
you out when you're like, what

264
00:13:57,720 --> 00:13:59,960
are we talking about, folks?
Yeah.

265
00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:04,880
So by the end of the night,
probably 9:30 or 10:00 at night,

266
00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:08,080
he comes back in to just say, I
know you're tired, I know you're

267
00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,360
worn out.
Here's where we are.

268
00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:16,520
The diagnosis is confirmed.
It's end stage liver failure.

269
00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:21,360
Your MELD score, which I'll
confirm what that is, is 27.

270
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:26,920
So the MELD score is a
combination measure of a number

271
00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:31,880
of different factors which just
tell you how sick or healthy

272
00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,160
your liver is.
The the range for that is from a

273
00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:41,000
six to a 46 is healthy liver, 40
is dead liver.

274
00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:44,200
When you get into the high
teens, you start becoming a

275
00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:49,280
candidate for transplant.
So mine was a 27 and at a 27,

276
00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:54,480
there's better than a 65 to 70%
chance that you've got less than

277
00:14:54,480 --> 00:15:01,840
90 days to still be here.
So his, his words to me that

278
00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:07,440
night where you got about 60
days and it registered with me

279
00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:10,960
what he meant.
And there was a pause and he

280
00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:14,600
said, we have to keep you alive
long enough to get you a new

281
00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:17,720
liver.
And then he said this was for a

282
00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:19,240
little bit of humor came in that
night.

283
00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:20,960
He said, try to get some rest
tonight.

284
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,640
And I just I for the first time
all day, I laughed.

285
00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,680
I just like, like that's not
going to happen.

286
00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:35,360
So, so big transition, right
Then because Anne and I looked

287
00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:37,120
at each other.
We'd been, it'd been so hectic

288
00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,760
that day.
You know, we'd held hands when

289
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:44,600
we had a chance to, but there
weren't that many times because

290
00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:49,840
I was in and out of procedures.
And we looked at each other and

291
00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:55,400
we're like, well, it's we need
to pray because we didn't know

292
00:15:55,400 --> 00:16:00,840
what else to do.
So I, I couldn't get on my knees

293
00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:03,360
on the floor because my legs are
so big, I could barely bend

294
00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:05,480
them.
So, so she kneels this out of

295
00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,840
the bed and we just started
asking God like, OK, what?

296
00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:11,200
You know, we don't know what's
next.

297
00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:15,280
We're we're ready for it.
I started telling God what I was

298
00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:20,160
hoping was going to happen, but
but I also said, but I'm ready

299
00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:27,000
for whatever your plans are.
So that night, 2 or 3:00 in the

300
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,240
morning, you should just lay in
there in bed with, you know,

301
00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:35,560
your mind's going 1,000,000
miles an hour with my kidney

302
00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:38,600
failure.
They they were, they had cut any

303
00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:41,600
fluid.
So my fluid intake was limited

304
00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:43,880
to just a couple of Oz a day at
that point.

305
00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,040
So if I got something to drink,
it was like a cap full of water,

306
00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:49,960
just enough to take medicine
with.

307
00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:54,440
So, so you're dealing with all
that, you're frustrated by that

308
00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:56,440
and you're still trying to
decipher all the news.

309
00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:03,800
And, and so I grabbed my, My
Portfolio, the notepad and just

310
00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,359
started jotting down some things
that I needed to take care of.

311
00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:08,839
I'm like, I, I've got to tell my
partner Tim this, I've got to

312
00:17:08,839 --> 00:17:14,240
get him to do this.
And it turned into, at the top

313
00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:18,760
of the page, I wrote down T -,
60 and it became sort of the,

314
00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:21,440
I'm a planner, you know,
financial plans.

315
00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:23,599
I do, I did that for my clients.
I needed a plan.

316
00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,839
I, I in my mind, like he told
me, I've got about 60 days.

317
00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:31,560
Here are all the things I need
to accomplish in the next 60

318
00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,400
days.
And it's just bullet point day

319
00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:36,280
one, day 2, day three, all the
way through.

320
00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,520
Some of them were simple things
like I, I need to make sure

321
00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:44,400
that, that all my plans to make
sure Anne's going to be taken

322
00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:46,560
care of her good, that the boys
are going to be taken care of

323
00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:50,120
her good, that I've got things
tied up with my business partner

324
00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:53,880
that, you know, all the life
things.

325
00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,080
And some of them were different
also, like I had, I had things

326
00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:00,160
like who's going to take care of
the yard?

327
00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:03,720
I mean, who's like registrations
are due on the car, like all

328
00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:07,640
this stuff.
But it kept me busy, which was a

329
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,800
good thing.
So I was in the hospital for a

330
00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,520
week, in and out of test all
week.

331
00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:15,160
Got really frustrated being
there.

332
00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:21,760
By the end of the week, a new, a
new generalist came in that day.

333
00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:26,280
She was super nice and I did
everything I could to talk her

334
00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:27,880
out of talk her into letting me
go.

335
00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:31,040
I was like, I need to be out of
the hospital.

336
00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:32,360
I got all these other things to
do.

337
00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:36,240
They were worried that I
wouldn't go to the follow up

338
00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:38,360
doctor's appointments.
And I'm like, I don't have

339
00:18:38,360 --> 00:18:39,800
anything else to do.
Like I have to.

340
00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:42,840
I have this series of things
that I have to accomplish in

341
00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:44,480
order to be on the transplant
list.

342
00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:47,200
I'm going to do them.
I'm going to go to all the

343
00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,520
doctor's appointments.
But I'd rather lay in my chair

344
00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:52,680
at home than here in the
hospital.

345
00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:55,480
For most of the folks listen,
that's listening.

346
00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,120
If they've been in the hospital
for an extended period of time,

347
00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:03,960
it is not a place to get rest.
Weeps, noises, screams, yelled

348
00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:09,200
like all the noises and and not
not just during the day, right,

349
00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:12,840
all hours.
And the folks in the hospital

350
00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:14,320
were great.
There was nothing against them.

351
00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,840
I mean, the nurses were great,
doctors were great, but the

352
00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:21,360
generalist let me go and she
told my wife she goes look at

353
00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:25,920
any point if he seems dizzy or
seems confused or anything else,

354
00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:28,880
you get him right back in here
and I'm looking at her going I

355
00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,520
am I am right here.
Like, why are you talking to her

356
00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,360
at about 4:00 the next morning?
So this wasn't, this was on

357
00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:42,160
that.
This was a Sunday afternoon.

358
00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:46,760
So we went home and I end up
going to sleep that night.

359
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,040
But it's about 4:00 the next
morning.

360
00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:57,520
My oldest son was holding me at
the top of our back stairs

361
00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:02,160
because I was lost.
I'd gotten up out of the bed.

362
00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:03,960
I was wandering around the
house.

363
00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,560
I didn't know it.
But I was about to fall down the

364
00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:11,640
steps and he his bedroom was
right there and he came out.

365
00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:23,920
I was very happy that he is a
big boy because he he just

366
00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:28,720
gathered me and I started to
come to a little bit and my

367
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,280
wife, I knew she was going to
take me back to the hospital.

368
00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:34,960
I didn't want to go.
So I lost that argument because

369
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:38,640
I had AI had a 22 year old son
that had a hold of me and he was

370
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:43,440
bigger than me.
And so back to the hospital that

371
00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:48,760
morning, severely dehydrated.
Once they got fluids pumped back

372
00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,000
into me, I got argumentative
again and wanted to go back

373
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:55,320
home.
So I, I literally refused to be

374
00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:58,960
admitted.
So they begrudgingly let me go.

375
00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:00,560
So I've got an appointment
tomorrow.

376
00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:02,080
And that's, that's just kind of
where I was.

377
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:07,160
I was, I was fighting, but I
wasn't fighting.

378
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:11,360
Well, I was, I, I wasn't, I, I
wasn't following directions,

379
00:21:11,360 --> 00:21:13,760
though I should have, I should
have stayed back in the hospital

380
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:17,880
that day, but I, I didn't.
But for the next three weeks,

381
00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,240
that's what it was.
It was doctor's appointments

382
00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,680
every other day.
Some days I would go into the

383
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:25,640
office for a couple of hours and
I'd be worn out and I'd have to

384
00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,920
come back home.
So the interesting thing there

385
00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,960
was that I would, I would text
my business partner and say,

386
00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:35,000
hey, I'm leaving the house and
he would keep a clock, a

387
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:38,600
stopwatch on how long because he
knew how long it would take me

388
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,240
to get to the office.
And then when I got to the

389
00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:43,120
office, I tell Aunt, hey, I'm at
the office.

390
00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:45,040
And then when I leave the
office, I tell aunt, hey, I'm

391
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:49,120
leaving the office just in case
I got dizzy.

392
00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:52,560
Like nobody was excited that I
was driving myself, except I was

393
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:56,240
driving myself.
So we get to the middle of we

394
00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:00,920
get to the middle of October.
Along the way, I have to go

395
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:06,960
through these procedures once a
week almost where I'm having

396
00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:15,240
fluid drained off my abdomen.
It's not a painless process on a

397
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:17,520
it's a it's a very uncomfortable
process.

398
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,160
If you've ever, if anyone's ever
had fluid drained off a joint,

399
00:22:21,120 --> 00:22:24,640
just imagine having a tube
snaked into your abdomen and and

400
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:29,880
you have at times double digit
pounds of fluid drained off you.

401
00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:36,520
So, so there'd been a day in the
middle of October, I'd had blood

402
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,600
work done that morning, had to
go in and have fluid drained off

403
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,520
and then went home and I and I
was not feeling, I was getting

404
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:45,720
worse.
It's probably the 18th or 19th

405
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,160
of October.
The following Friday morning, my

406
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:53,040
liver surgeon called or doctor
called and said, hey, this is

407
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,000
his very technical medical term
because your blood work sucks.

408
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:58,480
I need you to come in for the
weekend.

409
00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:00,200
We're going to redo all your
medications.

410
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:03,000
And so I didn't want to go back
in.

411
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:04,200
And he knew it.
He goes.

412
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,480
But if you come in today, I'll
get you back home by Sunday.

413
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,720
But if you wait until if you
wait until Monday, you might be

414
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:14,800
here forever.
Well, not forever.

415
00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:16,040
You might be here for a longer
time.

416
00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:18,320
Yeah.
And I said OK.

417
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,560
So I felt like I was managing my
medicine.

418
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:25,160
OK.
But Ann and I thought, you know,

419
00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:27,880
let's go.
And I think for me to go, yeah,

420
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,960
let's go was a big thing for her
too, that I was like, I was

421
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,200
feeling bad.
So we get to the hospital that

422
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,240
evening, I checked my or that
afternoon, I checked myself in,

423
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,520
go back for some tests.
We weighed around most of the

424
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:47,960
evening for a room.
And at some point that night, I

425
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:50,800
finally fell asleep, which I
didn't want to fall asleep

426
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:53,680
because I was, there was a
medication I was supposed to

427
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,960
take and they hadn't given it to
me and I was a little bit

428
00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:59,200
worried about it.
It was a medication that helped

429
00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:02,960
help your body get rid of toxins
when your liver can't do it.

430
00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,120
And that was the problem with
researching on Google is that I

431
00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:10,320
knew if I that part, if that
didn't happen, there was a

432
00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:16,080
chance that your body can slip
into a coma because more toxins

433
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:17,760
get to your brain and push
oxygen out.

434
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,480
And, and I was concerned about
that.

435
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,520
So I was very good at taking
those medications.

436
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,480
So as the night wore on and I,
they weren't bringing me that

437
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:29,280
medication and I started to get
anxious, They finally checked me

438
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:35,240
into a room and it wasn't a, it
wasn't an individual room.

439
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:37,120
It was, they were, it was a
shared room.

440
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,640
And I, I remember asking, there
was this older gentleman in the

441
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,360
other bed and I said, do you
mind if I turn the volume up on

442
00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:46,280
the TV because I'm trying not to
fall asleep until I get my

443
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:48,760
medication.
And he's like, I can barely

444
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:50,040
hear.
You can turn it up as loud as

445
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,480
you want.
So I did.

446
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,920
I I turned it up and couldn't be
in the room because it was past

447
00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,760
visitation hours.
And I think that would have made

448
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:01,920
a difference because she would
have seen something going on.

449
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,520
But I fell asleep at some point
and that was on a Friday

450
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:12,480
evening.
When I woke up, I thought it was

451
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:16,160
interesting because I was tied
to the bed and I had tubes

452
00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:20,000
everywhere and I didn't know why
so.

453
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:25,440
And I had a nurse asking me if I
knew what day it was, which I

454
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,680
thought was also strange.
If I go to bed on Friday and

455
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,440
wake up it's Saturday, why do
you need to know what day it is?

456
00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:35,640
And I said Saturday and she said
no, you want to try again?

457
00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:38,720
And I said, is it possible if I
slept till Sunday?

458
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,360
And I said OK, it's Sunday.
And she said no.

459
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:47,240
And I looked at Anne and I, you
know, I got really, I got upset

460
00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:51,840
and I probably, you know, said a
few unchristian words at that

461
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:55,000
point about, you know, why don't
you tell me what day it is?

462
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,400
So I know it was, it was
Tuesday.

463
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:04,480
And wow, I was like, what do you
mean, like?

464
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:09,720
And so I did not accept that
news very well because I'd gone

465
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:16,440
to sleep back to the T -, 60.
I checked in on T -, 32 and my

466
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,160
brain went to write to what day
it was on Tuesday.

467
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:24,080
And I to me, I lost to days of
things that I needed to do to

468
00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:27,800
the point where I got so wrapped
around that axle that it was the

469
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:29,680
following afternoon.
It was Wednesday afternoon

470
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:35,560
before I finally was back to
being Brian and being like, you

471
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:39,640
know, receptive of information.
I, I, it was one point where the

472
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:42,440
nurse looked at me and said, you
know, you need to calm down and

473
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:43,840
we're going to put you in a
different room.

474
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:47,880
And the room she met was, you
know, room with pads and no

475
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:52,160
windows.
So, so, so that's where I was at

476
00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:56,280
that point.
The following week, I had an

477
00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:01,160
experience with the injection of
a, a vitamin K supplement that

478
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:05,280
stopped my heart.
So and that was an interesting

479
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:07,320
experience of feeling it
happened.

480
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,960
And I got I was in a position
where I couldn't call out for

481
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,520
anybody and I couldn't reach my
nurse call button and I was in

482
00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:17,160
the room by myself.
Yeah.

483
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:19,640
And so the interesting thing
there is how many times if

484
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,920
you're in a hospital room,
there's always someone in the

485
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,120
hall or someone poking their
head in the door of your room

486
00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:28,520
like non-stop.
And there was this moment where

487
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:32,280
like I'm I can see out the door
and no one's walking out the

488
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:36,760
door.
So the last person that I saw, I

489
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,040
saw somebody come to the door
and I just sort of pointed at my

490
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:41,760
chest.
And I know this sounds crazy to

491
00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,400
people, but there were people
that witnessed it happened.

492
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:49,200
So I pointed at my chest and
then I hear someone scream.

493
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:53,560
We need help.
The next thing was just having a

494
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,120
bunch of doctors, you know,
opening my eyes and seeing a

495
00:27:56,120 --> 00:27:59,800
bunch of people stand over me,
one of which had two paddles in

496
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:06,480
the scene and and my chest hurt.
So, but what had happened was my

497
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:11,840
eye, that injection had had
caused me to have a regular

498
00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:13,160
heartbeat and it stopped
beating.

499
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:18,520
And so Anne was the person that
had stepped in the doorway.

500
00:28:19,360 --> 00:28:26,040
So, so that that was that was an
interesting moment because I

501
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,680
was, you know, I was sort of at
a loss because nobody else was

502
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:34,760
coming by and and I just sort of
leaned over as best I could and

503
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:37,160
I didn't know it was her.
I just saw like a figure.

504
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:42,920
And so even it was, you know, it
was 20-30 minutes later when

505
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:45,080
everything had calmed down and
everyone had left the room.

506
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:49,560
And, you know, the hospital
chaplain had come in and it was

507
00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:51,800
kind of a funny story there.
I'd come to and I saw the

508
00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,600
chaplain walk past me and turned
my head and saw him walk towards

509
00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:57,560
Anne.
And I told him to leave.

510
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,400
And he did.
He walked on out of the room.

511
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:04,800
And when everybody else cleared
out, I said, hey, can you get

512
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:08,240
the chaplain to come back in?
And he came back in and I said,

513
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,600
I didn't mean to be mean to you.
It just wasn't time for you.

514
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:13,680
And he laughed and he, he got
it.

515
00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:15,560
I was like, you know what?
It just wasn't, it wasn't time

516
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,760
for you to be with like.
And so we, you know, again,

517
00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:22,040
finding humor and stuff because
that chaplain was, he was, he

518
00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,640
was awesome.
I mean, I would, I loved when he

519
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:28,120
came by because, you know,
sometimes you just have these

520
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,240
people that, you know, when they
pray for you, it's just just, it

521
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,000
feels different.
And that guy was pretty, he was

522
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:37,240
pretty amazing.
So but we go on we have over the

523
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:43,080
next few weeks one good day, one
bad day, one good hour, 1 bad

524
00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:47,040
hour.
We get into November, they put a

525
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,480
a perma port in my chest to
start doing temporary dialysis

526
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:52,440
to give one of my kidneys a
break.

527
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:57,400
The first day I had dialysis I
lost 8 lbs during dialysis and

528
00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,240
that's how messed up my blood
was.

529
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:06,040
So the second day of dialysis, I
had a had a big issue with it.

530
00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:11,080
I had a massive bleeding issue,
lost a ton of blood, ended up

531
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:15,400
getting a bunch of transfusions
that night and the next day,

532
00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:19,080
next day airlifted down to
Charlotte.

533
00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:24,520
So by that point we were in the
process of picking a transplant

534
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:28,200
location.
While we assumed initially it

535
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:31,280
was just going to be MCV, right?
DCU Medical Center right there,

536
00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:37,760
one of the best, our liver, my
liver doctor did not have a

537
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:42,160
referral agreement with VCU.
They had some issues in the past

538
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:43,960
and I don't know what, well, I
know what all of them were, I'm

539
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:47,160
not going to bring them up here.
But there's, it's one of those

540
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:49,640
things that when you start
digging into the world of

541
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,320
medicine, you've it's, it was
like the bad side of the world

542
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:55,480
of medicine.
We had a Doctor Who wanted to

543
00:30:55,480 --> 00:31:00,480
just do surgeries and take care
of people and demands that were

544
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:02,960
put on his time for other things
that he didn't want to do so,

545
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:05,800
but he was very good at what he
did.

546
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:09,560
So he tells us, you know, along
the process, if you want to go

547
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:12,680
to MCVI have to dismiss
discharge you now you need to go

548
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:14,520
check in the MCV and you're
going to have to start the

549
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,920
process all over.
Or you can pick any other

550
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:19,440
transplant hospital in the
country.

551
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:24,960
So through research, we picked
we picked CMC, which is now

552
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:29,160
atrium down in Charlotte.
And we, the plans were we were

553
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,680
going to drive ourselves down
here after Thanksgiving, check

554
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:35,560
in, be on the transplant list
and just wait.

555
00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:40,160
November 9th was when I had the
big bleeding incident.

556
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:46,760
November 10th, an airplane with
a couple of doctors and EMTs,

557
00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:49,440
fly to Richmond, come get me
from the hospital at Saint

558
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:51,800
Mary's and fly me down to
Charlotte.

559
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:57,920
A number of days of just getting
stabilized there and along the

560
00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:01,080
way feeling better, having a bad
day.

561
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,400
How many good days?
And then one day, a nurse who

562
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:08,440
was always smiling, like always
had a joke to tell us, walked

563
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:10,360
into my room with a sad look on
her face.

564
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:13,880
And I just said what she said.
I don't know how to tell you

565
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,360
this.
We found a lump on your thyroid.

566
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:20,680
And it's like the air just went
right out of the room.

567
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:25,400
Because that was going to be
like, of all the hurdles we've

568
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,640
gotten over, that would have
been the one that would have

569
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:33,800
stopped the whole thing.
So everybody else was sad, but

570
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:38,360
in that moment I just like I
said, OK, so we have to go get a

571
00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:41,040
biopsy, right?
And she said yes, it's

572
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:43,360
scheduled.
And I said, OK, let's go now.

573
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:47,040
She goes, well, it's about 45
minutes.

574
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:49,640
And I said, well, great, let's
go do it.

575
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:54,640
And she goes, well, if it's bad
news, I said I understand.

576
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:55,920
Like I don't want to hear that
right now.

577
00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:57,320
Let's just go get this out of
the way.

578
00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:03,360
We'll deal with it then.
So it's a teaching hospital.

579
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,120
So they would constantly ask you
do you mind if students come in

580
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,480
to to observe and and I was
absolutely bring them in.

581
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,120
So they do the biopsy, they take
a piece out and they go to do

582
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:18,160
preliminary.
That's the word I'm going to

583
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:19,880
draw a blank on now.
Pathology.

584
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:21,920
Yeah, preliminary pathology on
it.

585
00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:24,120
Thank you.
And this, so this team of

586
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,200
students is just standing around
and it's, it's awkward for them

587
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:29,080
because I'm laying on the table
and they're looking there.

588
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:32,080
So I just start this.
Hey, you know where you guys all

589
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:33,560
go?
Some of them are from Duke, some

590
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:35,640
of them from North Carolina.
So I start talking about

591
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:40,320
football and basketball with
them, have them laughing because

592
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,280
I just start joking with them.
And they all know where I am.

593
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:46,680
They, they know my situation.
My, my meld score at that point

594
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:50,240
was in the high 30s.
So, you know, I'm, I'm in, I'm

595
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:53,360
in trouble.
My kid, my kidney failure, I was

596
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:55,840
at stage 5 kidney failure at
that point, both kidneys.

597
00:33:57,120 --> 00:33:59,800
So, and here I am laughing on
the table getting a biopsy done

598
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:04,120
on my, on a lump on my thyroid,
a big part of that.

599
00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:07,520
And we've talked about it a
little bit, but my faith was so

600
00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:11,840
strong at that point that I knew
where I was going one way or the

601
00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:13,040
other.
I was like, I'm either going to

602
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,480
walk out here healthy or you're
going to be healthy in another

603
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,480
place, right?
So, so the doctor came back in

604
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:21,760
and when she walked in the door,
she had this huge smile on her

605
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:26,639
face and like, it was like, it
was almost like scoring the

606
00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:29,080
winning touchdown because all
the students started cheering.

607
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,120
And it was, it was really cool.
And it's like, how many times

608
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,400
have you had people cheer
because, well, you're at least

609
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:37,520
you're not going to die from
that.

610
00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:43,960
So, so you have a chance it, it
may be surviving something else.

611
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:48,159
So the Monday before
Thanksgiving, they came to me

612
00:34:48,159 --> 00:34:49,480
and said, Hey, you're stable
enough.

613
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,080
We're going to let you go for a
couple of days.

614
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,840
We had family that lived in the
area and they knew that, so

615
00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:57,440
we're going to let you go with
them.

616
00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:00,920
You've got to come back tomorrow
for blood work, but then enjoy

617
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:03,120
Thanksgiving and then come back
Friday.

618
00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:05,600
We'll check you back in Friday.
You'll be on the list.

619
00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:10,760
They'll probably take 1010 to 15
days and they'll probably be

620
00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:13,360
organs available for you, which
is a whole different thought

621
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:17,600
process because in my situation,
there wasn't time for me to go

622
00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:21,240
through trying to get people to
serve as living donors.

623
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:26,600
The hard part was I needed
someone to die.

624
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,160
And I know that sounds really
cold to say it, but it feels

625
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:33,560
cold to actually also think that
and know that that that's what

626
00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:39,120
has to happen in order for me to
make it, which wasn't something

627
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,240
lost on me and parallels for
other things as well.

628
00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:47,880
So we, we checked out that
Monday.

629
00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:49,520
I came back Tuesday for blood
work.

630
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,400
Wednesday during the day.
I, I, I felt awful.

631
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,960
I mean, I was like contemplating
getting my wife, getting Anne to

632
00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:01,520
take me back to the hospital.
At 6:00 Wednesday afternoon, my

633
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,760
phone rings and I have all these
numbers plugged into my phone

634
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:08,560
like all, every, every kidney
doctor in North Carolina that's

635
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:12,800
worked on me, every liver
person, every heart cardiologist

636
00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,000
that's come in to check on me
because that's just something

637
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,120
else they have to do to make
sure you're prepared strong

638
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,120
enough for surgery.
And this number came across and

639
00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:22,600
I didn't recognize it, so I
didn't answer it.

640
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:27,600
About 30 seconds later, Anne's
phone rings and my oldest son,

641
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:29,960
who has driven down to stay with
us at that point, picks up my

642
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:32,360
phone.
And at the same time he's

643
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:36,240
handing my handy me my phone to
say, Dad, look at your phone.

644
00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:38,720
Anne is telling me, Brian, look
at your phone.

645
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:41,720
And I pick it up and it's the
voicemail, the text.

646
00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:44,920
And I read the text and it's,
hey, this is the CMC transplant

647
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:49,440
center.
Please give us a call, a little

648
00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:52,080
bit of shock.
So I called them and they said,

649
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:56,080
Mr. Berry, we have your offer,
which is how they present it to

650
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:56,960
you.
I mean, there's a number of

651
00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,680
reasons for that.
Can you can you get here?

652
00:37:02,240 --> 00:37:06,240
We will be there in 20 minutes.
So as the realization hits you

653
00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:09,680
like they are talking about
having a liver and a kidney for

654
00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:14,440
me.
So quick goodbyes to the family

655
00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:18,440
that was there, head to the
hospital.

656
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:22,640
And then I'll tell you when you
show up, like the hospital knows

657
00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:26,880
from the people who check you
in, they're waiting on you,

658
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:30,720
they're expecting you.
And the way they greet you and

659
00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:34,440
start to cheer for you as you
come in is they know what you're

660
00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:37,840
about to go through and they're
so excited for you.

661
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:42,360
And it's it's pretty
overwhelming the care you get.

662
00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:46,920
So about four or five hours of
just pre op things.

663
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:53,240
A good friend of ours, Doug
Groat, who at that point was

664
00:37:53,240 --> 00:37:57,520
living in South Carolina, got up
at 4:00 in the morning and drove

665
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,160
up to pray over me before we
went into surgery.

666
00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:05,040
But at 5:30 on Thanksgiving
morning, I get wheeled in for a

667
00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:09,280
liver transplant.
It's about an 8 hour procedure.

668
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:14,880
Get through that procedure, get
wheeled back to the ICU just to

669
00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:18,320
be kept under and kept sedated
till Friday morning.

670
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:23,360
I get wheeled back in for kidney
surgery, successful kidney

671
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:27,560
surgery, back to ICU in the
middle, middle of the afternoon

672
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:32,080
and I wake up at about 4:00
Friday afternoon.

673
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:35,400
The the humor part of that is
great.

674
00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:38,240
You know, I am.
It's wonderful that it all

675
00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:39,960
happened.
Back to humor.

676
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:44,000
Before I got as I was getting
wheeled into liver surgery, I

677
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,880
asked the doctor if he, you
know, what's your estimate if

678
00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:49,200
all goes well, when should I
expect to wake up?

679
00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:52,120
He said probably Saturday
morning at some point.

680
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:54,520
And I'm like, OK.
He said, well, you see him

681
00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:56,680
disappointed.
And I was like, well, I was just

682
00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:59,280
wondering if I'd wake up in time
for the UVA Tech football game,

683
00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:02,040
which at that point they used to
still play it on Friday

684
00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:03,920
afternoons.
So.

685
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:06,760
And he laughed and he goes, he
goes, you'll have to watch a

686
00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:10,200
recording.
And so something told me when I

687
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:13,680
woke up that it was Friday.
I don't it just inherently.

688
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:16,640
And so when I got them, when I
finally got them to pull the

689
00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:22,360
breathing tube out, a very in a
very raspy voice said, is the

690
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,600
UVA tech game on?
And my wife laughed and she

691
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,400
picked up her phone because I
thought I heard football.

692
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:31,160
And she had she had pulled the
game up, put it on her phone and

693
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:33,520
had it by my ear.
So I was listening to the game.

694
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:36,400
The other funny story with that
was on the TV.

695
00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:39,800
There was a football game.
There was a team in highlighter

696
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:42,920
yellow playing against the team
in burnt orange like the solid

697
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:47,760
color uniforms and the play on
the screen was oddly matching up

698
00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:51,400
with what I was hearing.
But I got so confused because I

699
00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:53,240
couldn't understand.
I'm like OK, the burnt orange

700
00:39:53,240 --> 00:39:55,160
team has to be Virginia Tech
right?

701
00:39:56,560 --> 00:40:00,440
I probably asked 10 times before
I and finally just turned the TV

702
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:02,880
off.
Why is UVA wearing highlighter

703
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,600
yellow uniform so.
And I could I could not figure

704
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:08,600
that out to save my life.
So she finally turned the TV off

705
00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:11,960
and then the.
But but the kidney doctor came

706
00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:13,840
in and he was laughing.
He, you know, he's like, I think

707
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,560
he's going to be fine.
So I make it through.

708
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:20,560
The recovery was great.
We checked out six days later

709
00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:22,480
and I walked out of the
hospital.

710
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:28,280
We stayed down for a few more
weeks for post op and everything

711
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:34,000
was, I mean, it's like I've been
so fortunate since then when we

712
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,600
came out of that, I got a lot of
clarity about a lot of things in

713
00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:39,400
life that I needed some clarity
on.

714
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,440
And when you're laying in a
hospital thinking that, you

715
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,320
know, you may or may not make
it, you have an opportunity to

716
00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:49,720
gain clarity about things.
So there's some other really

717
00:40:49,720 --> 00:40:52,040
wonderful stories that go along
with that.

718
00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:55,880
We, there were a lot of nights
where I wouldn't go to sleep

719
00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:58,240
because the last time I'd gone
to sleep, I didn't wake up for

720
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:02,600
four days.
So, so I would set my alarm on

721
00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:06,760
my phone for like 5 minutes.
If I fall asleep, the phone

722
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:09,440
would wake me up.
It would drive Anne crazy in the

723
00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:11,440
hospital room.
She would call me, stop setting

724
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:13,040
that alarm.
And I'm like, I, I just don't

725
00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:16,880
want to fall asleep.
But there was a lot of time for

726
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:22,960
prayer during these times.
And, and I think that's where

727
00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:24,640
clarity came from on a number of
things.

728
00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:28,880
So one of the things I did was
sell my business.

729
00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:32,360
It's like I, I don't know
exactly what I'm supposed to do,

730
00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,040
but I know I'm, I'm not supposed
to do this anymore.

731
00:41:35,720 --> 00:41:40,280
And it was extremely clear my,
my business partner at the time,

732
00:41:40,720 --> 00:41:43,680
who had been wonderful through
the entire illness part.

733
00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:48,400
He was great.
He was fantastic checking on the

734
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:52,720
boys, making sure things at our
house were good while we were

735
00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:57,920
away.
And he did, he, he wanted to buy

736
00:41:57,920 --> 00:41:59,960
the business, but he didn't want
to buy the business.

737
00:42:00,240 --> 00:42:02,840
It's like, I want to, you know,
I want to keep your business,

738
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:04,840
but I don't want to lose you as
a business partner.

739
00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:11,280
And so our friendship grew so
much closer during that whole

740
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:14,080
process.
And we still are to this day.

741
00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:15,720
We're still, you know, we're
still really good friends.

742
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:20,600
So that didn't really stop the
journey as to how we got to

743
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:22,560
where we are now.
We sail along.

744
00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:26,720
I, I get involved in some, some
nonprofit networking and

745
00:42:26,720 --> 00:42:30,080
consulting work and leadership
development work, which I had a

746
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:32,120
lot of fun.
I, I have a lot of fun doing for

747
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:35,920
a number of reasons to the
point.

748
00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:41,400
Fast forward to October of 2021.
I am preparing to run a charity

749
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:45,280
golf tournament for four of
Richmond's finest nonprofits.

750
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:48,720
I've got everything is set up.
We're ready to go.

751
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:53,200
It's the night before I go into
my garage, have a, you know,

752
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:57,520
really good workout for anyone
who's run a golf tournament.

753
00:42:57,720 --> 00:43:01,560
It's not stress free to do it.
And when you try to run a

754
00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:03,640
charity golf tournament in
October, it's by the worst time

755
00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:06,920
of the year to run 1 because
they're about 2000 of them going

756
00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:11,320
on.
So you're competing for, you

757
00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:14,960
know, you're competing in
already small pond with a lot of

758
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:18,600
other fish.
So, but we get to that morning

759
00:43:18,720 --> 00:43:23,800
or get to that night before
everything's set up 4:00 that

760
00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:26,040
morning, the morning of the golf
tournament.

761
00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:32,880
I, I get awakened and I say,
fortunately I was awakened by

762
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:35,000
something squeezing my chest
very hard.

763
00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:39,640
And I thought I had indigestion
and not having learned my lesson

764
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:43,080
from the transplant illness and
all the signs that I needed

765
00:43:43,080 --> 00:43:48,520
help, I just tried to fix it.
I, I walked my office in our

766
00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:50,280
house was right next to our
master bedroom.

767
00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:53,040
So I walked in there and just
started doing some breathing

768
00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:57,080
exercises and drank some water
and did some stretches and, and

769
00:43:57,080 --> 00:43:59,800
for a minute or two convinced,
well, more than a minute for

770
00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:03,120
several minutes, convinced
myself that I was, I was, this

771
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:06,560
was just a muscle strain or
spasm and I was getting better.

772
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:08,960
The whole time Anne is watching
me.

773
00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:14,120
She's asking me questions and,
and about 45 minutes into this,

774
00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:17,560
she's standing in my doorway
with her purse and her coat,

775
00:44:17,920 --> 00:44:21,960
like tapping her foot and
finally said, if you don't come

776
00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:23,880
voluntarily, I'm about to call
911.

777
00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:28,000
You're having a heart attack.
And as soon as she said that,

778
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:32,440
it's like all the, all the, all
the easy signs like the your

779
00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:36,400
left arm going numb, soaking
wet, just I mean, from not

780
00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:38,360
sweating to soaking wet in a
split second.

781
00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:45,000
But what I'd worked on was if I
can't get to the golf

782
00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:46,520
tournament, I need to let some
people know.

783
00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:50,040
So I've spent that 45, the bulk
of that 45 minutes typing this

784
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:53,440
long e-mail to a couple of the
other guys and said, Hey, you

785
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:55,680
guys are going to be in charge.
Here's here's where everything

786
00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:59,640
is.
All of the sponsorship signs and

787
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:02,200
prizes and everything else were
in the back of one of our trucks

788
00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:04,320
at the house.
So I'm like, oh, how am I going

789
00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:07,640
to get that there?
So we're walking outside.

790
00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:10,920
My left arm's already numb.
Yeah, I'm soaking wet.

791
00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:14,120
She's making arrangements to get
somebody to come over because I

792
00:45:14,720 --> 00:45:19,080
mean, another complicating fact,
Her mom is at our house, but her

793
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:20,720
mom is in Hospice care at that
point.

794
00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:25,840
So she's called a friend to come
over, told the friend what's

795
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:31,840
going on and we walk outside and
every guy that hears this is

796
00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:33,560
going to go, Yep, understand
this completely.

797
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:37,600
I look at her and said, just
follow me to the golf course and

798
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:39,680
let me drop the truck off and
then you can take me to the

799
00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:42,520
hospital.
And fortunately, she gave me a

800
00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:46,720
few seconds to think about what
I had just said with before she

801
00:45:46,720 --> 00:45:48,280
responded.
And I just looked at her and

802
00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:50,000
said, please forget that I said
that.

803
00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:53,960
I got that was really.
But in the moment you're like,

804
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:58,160
I'm a guy.
I can do this, you know, So I,

805
00:45:58,240 --> 00:46:02,240
I, we laughed later about it.
At the moment is like, it was a

806
00:46:02,240 --> 00:46:06,200
pretty stupid thing to say.
So I call my oldest son on the

807
00:46:06,200 --> 00:46:08,040
way to the hospital and say,
Hey, I need you to do me a

808
00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:09,280
favor.
I need you to come get the

809
00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:12,880
truck, take it to the golf
course, tell him why.

810
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:18,000
And he's super he he's very good
in pressure situations.

811
00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:21,520
Didn't get upset about it, just
understood, wanted to know if

812
00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:24,000
he'd come to the hospital and
was like, no, it's still COVID

813
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:25,200
restrictions.
They're not going to let you

814
00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:27,520
back.
Just go play golf.

815
00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:30,680
You're going to be playing my
college roommate like he's

816
00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:32,800
everything's going to be fine.
Just go there, get everything

817
00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:34,960
set up.
We go to the hospital.

818
00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:40,120
I don't understand the severity
of what I was going through at

819
00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:46,600
the time until, until I get back
to the examination room, which

820
00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:48,600
was that was an interesting
process too, because I walked

821
00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:54,880
down in this very friendly young
little desk attendant.

822
00:46:55,800 --> 00:46:58,040
So cheery.
So like, oh, good morning, how

823
00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:00,640
are you doing?
And I handed my driver's license

824
00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:05,640
and my insurance card in a very
quiet breath, say, I think I'm

825
00:47:05,640 --> 00:47:09,200
having a heart attack.
And just as cheerful as she

826
00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:13,320
could be, She goes, oh, well,
what's your name?

827
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:18,480
And I just I just pointed at the
driver's license and and then

828
00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:20,480
Anne comes through.
She parked the vehicle and come

829
00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:23,440
sort of running through and I
just pointed at her and walked

830
00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:27,000
over to sit down.
And and then she was telling her

831
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:30,160
that this this sweet little girl
told tells my wife, we'll go

832
00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:31,720
have a seat.
Somebody will be with you in a

833
00:47:31,720 --> 00:47:34,200
few minutes.
And I had AI had a big

834
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:36,520
contraction right when she said
that.

835
00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:38,920
And my wife says, you know, he
doesn't have a few minutes.

836
00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:41,600
He's having a heart attack.
She kind of screamed it out and

837
00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:45,800
then she was screaming that out.
This this guy that could have

838
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:48,560
been a middle linebacker for an
NFL team comes out of the back

839
00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:52,360
is, you know, one of the nurses
and just comes sprinting to me

840
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:54,880
and picks me up out of the chair
and like gets me back to the

841
00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:56,640
table.
And in a matter of seconds it's

842
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:00,240
I've got nurses and Cath lab
people coming through the door

843
00:48:00,240 --> 00:48:02,880
and cardiologist.
And before I know it, I'm back

844
00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:06,680
on the calf table and the the
cardiologist is like, your LED

845
00:48:06,680 --> 00:48:08,680
is 100% blocked.
You've got all these other

846
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:13,400
blockages and, and you know,
you're, you're mostly awake for

847
00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:16,720
that on the calf table and, and
I'm like, what do you mean?

848
00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:19,720
Like I, I get blood work once a
month.

849
00:48:19,720 --> 00:48:21,280
I know where all these other
numbers are.

850
00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:23,120
How can this possibly be
happening?

851
00:48:23,560 --> 00:48:24,640
And that's a whole another
story.

852
00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:27,000
But I was, you know, I had a
widowmaker heart attack.

853
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:37,320
And at that moment there's a lot
of, OK, God, if it's now, I'm

854
00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:40,520
ready.
But I didn't expect this.

855
00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:43,040
Like I felt great last night.
How where'd this come from?

856
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:49,320
So, so having so getting through
that, then, you know, that

857
00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:54,240
afternoon someone had had loaned
me their, their JMU tent for the

858
00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:56,280
golf.
And it's kind of a funny thing,

859
00:48:56,600 --> 00:49:01,720
but Mary let us borrow her tent.
She needed it back the next day

860
00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:03,960
and I promised her I was going
to get her a tent back Friday

861
00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:05,720
because they were going to a
game on Saturday.

862
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:07,600
No problem, we'll get it back to
you.

863
00:49:08,160 --> 00:49:13,360
So Friday afternoon, she, she
calls, she goes, hey, where's my

864
00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:16,280
tent?
And I said, I'm sorry, I had a

865
00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:18,600
heart attack yesterday.
I, I don't know where your tent

866
00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:19,800
is, I'll find it.
She laughs.

867
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:21,360
She goes, oh, that's a funny
excuse.

868
00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:24,160
I was like, no, Mary, I'm really
like, I really had a heart

869
00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:27,760
attack.
So, so, but she'd seen me the

870
00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:29,320
day before.
I was like, what are you talking

871
00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:30,240
about?
You had a heart attack.

872
00:49:30,240 --> 00:49:34,680
And so, so I've become a
proponent for telling people

873
00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:41,840
like, hey, 2 those two things.
If you feel this, don't ignore

874
00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:43,120
it.
There were a couple things.

875
00:49:43,120 --> 00:49:45,560
And you know, I should have gone
to the hospital right away that

876
00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:49,560
morning because I have the
cardiologist telling me if he'd

877
00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:52,840
waited, you know, he'd waited
another 5 minutes, this would

878
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:57,040
have been a different thing.
And so that was, you know, twice

879
00:49:57,040 --> 00:50:01,640
hearing these almost end of life
stories and, and being kept

880
00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:04,280
around and still having these
OK, I'm still here.

881
00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:07,800
So.
So.

882
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:10,400
Yeah.
So those going through those

883
00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:13,760
and, and, and now some of the
things that have happened and

884
00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:20,920
I've experienced since then, I'm
I'm so grateful to still be here

885
00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:23,880
because some of the things we've
had an opportunity to experience

886
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:28,320
over the past three years.
And as you and I've talked about

887
00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:33,680
a little bit that I can bring up
over the past few months, the

888
00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:39,200
way things have worked out for
us, it's just thinking back on

889
00:50:39,200 --> 00:50:41,480
it, knowing how I felt during a
couple of times and how I was

890
00:50:41,480 --> 00:50:43,760
about to, there were a couple
times I almost gave up.

891
00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:45,400
And I'm not usually a person to
give up.

892
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:51,040
You know, I can think back to
the bleeding incident during the

893
00:50:51,040 --> 00:50:54,800
dialysis when I, I told my wife,
literally I looked at her and

894
00:50:54,800 --> 00:51:00,400
said, I, I think I'm done.
And my, my nurturing wife, who,

895
00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:03,840
who never has a harsh word for
anyone, looked right at me and

896
00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:06,800
said, suck it up and beat this.
And she, like, screamed it at me

897
00:51:07,240 --> 00:51:09,040
and it was a snap back into
reality.

898
00:51:09,040 --> 00:51:13,760
It's like I needed that.
And I still wouldn't, you know,

899
00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:16,840
even those days Now, if you get
a little down or something goes

900
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:20,520
against you, that's what I think
back to, I think, you know, suck

901
00:51:20,520 --> 00:51:23,440
it up and beat this.
So there are little things along

902
00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:26,760
the way that have just meant so
much to me.

903
00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:31,120
Now, Fast forward to how we got
to Charlotte, talking about the

904
00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:33,000
way other things work out.
Do you want, do you want me to

905
00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:36,280
talk about that or.
Yeah.

906
00:51:37,240 --> 00:51:39,640
Brian, there is so much here,
man.

907
00:51:39,640 --> 00:51:41,920
We'll do.
We'll come back to some stuff.

908
00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:43,720
So yeah, you might as well keep
rolling.

909
00:51:43,760 --> 00:51:47,560
Wow, wow.
There's yeah, there's a lot.

910
00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:51,200
There's I've had people go
that's, that's an awful lot for

911
00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:57,400
a few years.
And it is about a year ago we,

912
00:51:57,400 --> 00:52:00,640
we came to Charlotte.
Our boys moved down here three

913
00:52:00,640 --> 00:52:04,440
years ago to, to just extend
their further their careers and

914
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:09,760
what they're doing.
And we were, we were excited for

915
00:52:09,760 --> 00:52:12,720
them to move to Charlotte
because we, I had some business

916
00:52:12,720 --> 00:52:15,280
clients down here.
I'd taken some of the nonprofit

917
00:52:15,280 --> 00:52:19,200
consulting work down here.
We had family and friends down

918
00:52:19,200 --> 00:52:21,160
here.
So we were excited for them to,

919
00:52:21,280 --> 00:52:24,120
to have a little bit of
community down here already.

920
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:27,600
We enjoyed coming down to see
them.

921
00:52:28,080 --> 00:52:30,440
We usually made an extended
weekends every time we did.

922
00:52:32,080 --> 00:52:36,800
And then last last year, Easter
weekend, we came down and on the

923
00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:39,720
way home, we just had this
discussion that we both felt

924
00:52:39,720 --> 00:52:42,600
like we were leaving home to go
back home.

925
00:52:42,760 --> 00:52:45,120
We were like, we, we, we're
going the wrong direction here.

926
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:53,200
And so we, we started praying
about it then like, God, what is

927
00:52:53,200 --> 00:52:55,680
this?
Are we, you know, is, is this

928
00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:58,600
just us or are you telling us
something?

929
00:53:00,280 --> 00:53:02,560
And we just felt like, we felt
like Charlotte was on the

930
00:53:02,560 --> 00:53:06,400
horizon.
We in our own minds thought it

931
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:09,800
was like a three to five year
thing with we, we got plenty of

932
00:53:09,800 --> 00:53:12,920
time.
We're not in a rush, but we did

933
00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:16,000
decide to start doing some
downsizing things in our house

934
00:53:16,720 --> 00:53:20,720
because after 25 years in the
same house and you know, 30-4

935
00:53:20,720 --> 00:53:22,960
years of marriage, at that
point, you, you've accumulated

936
00:53:22,960 --> 00:53:27,080
things as you know, and a lot of
the stuff is your kids stuff.

937
00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:30,440
And what you find out is it
today's kids who are adults now

938
00:53:30,800 --> 00:53:33,200
don't want that stuff.
They don't want to keep it.

939
00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:34,440
They don't want to have to deal
with it.

940
00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:36,560
And we started having those
discussions.

941
00:53:36,560 --> 00:53:39,800
So it's like, all right, let's
one or two trips a week either

942
00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:43,480
to charity or to the dump just
and it was going to take that

943
00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:44,720
long.
All right, because we also had

944
00:53:44,720 --> 00:53:49,200
all of her mom's things as well.
So we're coming on through the

945
00:53:49,200 --> 00:53:51,400
summer and we're starting to
think more.

946
00:53:51,800 --> 00:53:53,920
Well, maybe it's not three to
five years, maybe it's two to

947
00:53:53,920 --> 00:54:00,160
three years.
In October, some, some

948
00:54:00,160 --> 00:54:02,360
acquaintances of ours, I mean,
we call them friends.

949
00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:05,000
We we weren't close.
We knew each other because we go

950
00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:06,880
to church together and we live
in the same neighborhood.

951
00:54:08,200 --> 00:54:11,120
Approached us to look at the
addition that we built on the on

952
00:54:11,120 --> 00:54:14,640
our house for Anne's mother.
They have a special needs son

953
00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:16,840
and they were considering
building a first floor addition

954
00:54:17,240 --> 00:54:22,280
for him and they just wanted to
come see it somewhere along the

955
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:26,720
lines during that discussion.
Now I will say I'll back up

956
00:54:26,720 --> 00:54:32,040
because you know this and it's
pretty good piece to add as we

957
00:54:32,040 --> 00:54:36,200
were praying for for God to help
us like know what we're doing

958
00:54:36,200 --> 00:54:39,400
here.
We would use the end it God,

959
00:54:39,400 --> 00:54:42,240
just make it obvious.
And that just became God make it

960
00:54:42,240 --> 00:54:43,680
obvious.
So when we thought we had

961
00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:46,000
something to pray about, we know
we we're already thinking about

962
00:54:46,000 --> 00:54:47,240
it.
So we just get together and say,

963
00:54:47,240 --> 00:54:49,520
God, you know what we're
thinking about, make it obvious.

964
00:54:51,120 --> 00:54:53,440
So that night there, there we
laughed when they came, when

965
00:54:53,440 --> 00:54:55,560
they called to come see the
addition, we sort of laughed a

966
00:54:55,560 --> 00:54:58,400
little bit.
We didn't read into it too much.

967
00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:00,080
We just thought, well, that's
pretty interesting.

968
00:55:00,560 --> 00:55:02,560
By the end of the night, they
were asking us if we wanted to

969
00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:06,200
swap houses.
So we're like, well, that's

970
00:55:06,200 --> 00:55:09,400
pretty out, but but we didn't
want to swap houses.

971
00:55:09,400 --> 00:55:11,960
And we told them we're like, we
don't want to swap houses If we

972
00:55:11,960 --> 00:55:14,040
move out of here, we're heading
South.

973
00:55:15,520 --> 00:55:20,520
No, when I say S 1 caveat to
that is when I was in the

974
00:55:20,520 --> 00:55:24,280
hospital with the transplant and
I did the T -. 61 of the other

975
00:55:24,280 --> 00:55:27,960
things I did was write down
three things that I wanted to

976
00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:31,280
focus on experience like these
three.

977
00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:34,360
What are these three main things
that I'm going to fight for?

978
00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:40,520
One was to see, I wanted to see
my youngest son graduate from

979
00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:44,800
college.
I wanted to see it selfishly.

980
00:55:44,800 --> 00:55:46,960
I wanted to see at least one of
my kids get married.

981
00:55:47,840 --> 00:55:50,320
And then the third, which was
maybe a little funnier a little

982
00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:53,160
was I wanted to get back to the
Dominican Republic.

983
00:55:53,360 --> 00:55:55,760
And that sounds kind of funny,
but Anne and I just we have a

984
00:55:56,520 --> 00:56:00,920
there's a special place in our
heart for the Dominican, both

985
00:56:00,920 --> 00:56:04,920
the people and and for vacation,
but we've we've pictured living

986
00:56:04,920 --> 00:56:10,280
there at some point.
So that statement, if we move

987
00:56:10,280 --> 00:56:11,720
out of here, we're heading
South.

988
00:56:12,200 --> 00:56:14,880
Yeah, could have, could have
meant one or two places for us.

989
00:56:16,920 --> 00:56:22,080
But so they said, hey, if you
ever do get ready to sell this,

990
00:56:22,080 --> 00:56:23,760
can you can we be the first
phone call?

991
00:56:23,760 --> 00:56:27,160
We're like, absolutely.
So we sat around that night.

992
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:29,280
We're like, you know, let's just
call.

993
00:56:29,280 --> 00:56:30,320
And they, they even said the
same.

994
00:56:30,320 --> 00:56:32,120
They said you don't have to do
anything to your house.

995
00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:33,200
We love your house the way it
is.

996
00:56:33,200 --> 00:56:38,240
It would be perfect for us.
Anne's mom was a pediatric

997
00:56:38,240 --> 00:56:41,760
physical therapist and she
worked with, she worked with

998
00:56:41,760 --> 00:56:45,280
kids who were experiencing
exactly what their son has.

999
00:56:45,880 --> 00:56:50,480
And that wasn't lost on us
either because that night Ann

1000
00:56:50,480 --> 00:56:54,320
said mom would be so happy.
And so I was like, well, I've

1001
00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:57,200
lost all negotiating power now
because you just said that.

1002
00:56:57,720 --> 00:57:01,680
So, but we laughed because we
kept saying God make it obvious.

1003
00:57:01,680 --> 00:57:03,960
And it was just like, this seems
so obvious.

1004
00:57:04,240 --> 00:57:06,760
So we talked to our real estate
agent.

1005
00:57:06,760 --> 00:57:11,320
She gave us, she gave us the do
nothing price and I called him

1006
00:57:11,320 --> 00:57:14,520
one day and said Hey, we are
thinking about selling it here

1007
00:57:14,520 --> 00:57:20,960
is the do nothing price and it
was a very simple it just he

1008
00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:25,320
said they said yes.
We said yes, how we're going to

1009
00:57:25,320 --> 00:57:28,320
do this.
The idea was that they were

1010
00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:30,800
going to stay in their house
till the end of June or till

1011
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:33,680
June of this year to get through
the school year, which was fine

1012
00:57:33,680 --> 00:57:35,160
with us.
It gave us plenty of time to

1013
00:57:35,160 --> 00:57:37,360
come come down and find a house
down here.

1014
00:57:39,040 --> 00:57:41,080
We signed a contract on January
1st.

1015
00:57:42,080 --> 00:57:45,000
A week or two later we get a
update from a real estate agent.

1016
00:57:45,120 --> 00:57:46,840
Hey, they want to know if you
guys would be interested in

1017
00:57:46,840 --> 00:57:52,320
moving at the end of March.
So we just laughed, we looked at

1018
00:57:52,320 --> 00:57:56,560
each other and said we would
feel wrong saying no because

1019
00:57:56,560 --> 00:57:58,720
we've continued to ask God to
make it obvious.

1020
00:57:59,880 --> 00:58:05,760
This is pretty obvious.
So we said yes and it speed

1021
00:58:05,760 --> 00:58:10,600
things up quite a bit.
So and then we knew like, OK,

1022
00:58:10,600 --> 00:58:12,120
we're not supposed to get a
house right now.

1023
00:58:12,720 --> 00:58:18,040
So we are in this wonderful
apartment down in South Park,

1024
00:58:18,040 --> 00:58:20,800
which it's hard to imagine.
We laughed at each other going

1025
00:58:20,800 --> 00:58:22,920
what do you what do you mean?
Like what are we thinking about

1026
00:58:22,920 --> 00:58:26,000
going to an apartment?
But we're in this great place

1027
00:58:26,880 --> 00:58:29,440
for those who are watching this
is this is part of the Co

1028
00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:31,040
working space in my apartment
building.

1029
00:58:31,600 --> 00:58:33,440
It's a wonderful place.
It's in a great area.

1030
00:58:33,600 --> 00:58:35,800
We have enjoyed.
We have, we're in this very

1031
00:58:35,800 --> 00:58:40,720
walkable neighborhood and the
relationships that we've either

1032
00:58:40,720 --> 00:58:45,000
rekindled or started in the past
almost three months now that

1033
00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:50,520
we've been down here have just
been so obvious that we were

1034
00:58:50,520 --> 00:58:52,600
supposed to come down and make a
rekindle.

1035
00:58:53,880 --> 00:58:57,640
And some really cool things are
starting to percolate down here.

1036
00:58:58,960 --> 00:59:03,880
So we just feel, we just feel
like all this has worked in ways

1037
00:59:03,880 --> 00:59:05,600
that you can't see when it's
happening.

1038
00:59:06,400 --> 00:59:09,360
You know, you can't like, I
don't know why this is

1039
00:59:09,360 --> 00:59:11,760
happening, but hey, we're here,
let's, let's go.

1040
00:59:12,280 --> 00:59:14,000
And we're at this point now
where we still don't know

1041
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:17,680
exactly how it's all going to
filter out, but we're confident

1042
00:59:17,680 --> 00:59:19,280
and knowing that it's being
worked out.

1043
00:59:20,040 --> 00:59:22,720
And so we just, we just
continue.

1044
00:59:22,720 --> 00:59:25,280
It's, you know, the outage we
use as we continue walking 3

1045
00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:28,640
doors until they close.
And if those doors close, we

1046
00:59:28,640 --> 00:59:32,800
just look for the open door and,
and, and that's the way it's

1047
00:59:32,800 --> 00:59:34,520
working out.
Is, is, is fantastic.

1048
00:59:35,480 --> 00:59:42,120
I've had people ask me if I ever
got mad at God, especially

1049
00:59:44,120 --> 00:59:46,080
during the transplant time,
because there were, there were a

1050
00:59:46,080 --> 00:59:51,960
couple days where we would go
from good news, your, your blood

1051
00:59:51,960 --> 00:59:56,040
levels are stabilizing to within
an hour.

1052
00:59:57,000 --> 00:59:59,360
Your blood work has gotten to
the point where we've taken you

1053
00:59:59,360 --> 01:00:06,920
off the transplant list and so.
So there were times when it was

1054
01:00:06,920 --> 01:00:10,080
just the news would whiplash you
and it would, it would, it was

1055
01:00:10,080 --> 01:00:16,240
exhausting.
So and then we would have these

1056
01:00:16,240 --> 01:00:20,000
times down in Charlotte where
I'd be feeling a little bit bad

1057
01:00:20,000 --> 01:00:23,320
about myself.
But we were in a, we were in a

1058
01:00:23,320 --> 01:00:29,720
trauma unit.
And so once an hour, probably on

1059
01:00:29,720 --> 01:00:34,440
average, a helicopter is landing
on the roof like once one story

1060
01:00:34,440 --> 01:00:37,440
above me.
And I know that someone's coming

1061
01:00:37,440 --> 01:00:41,800
in worse than me.
And and that was that was always

1062
01:00:41,800 --> 01:00:45,800
a reality check for me.
Now, there were a couple times

1063
01:00:45,800 --> 01:00:48,120
where people would argue that,
no, they weren't worse than you,

1064
01:00:48,120 --> 01:00:52,040
but your your meld score was a
40 that, you know, at the end,

1065
01:00:52,480 --> 01:00:55,200
your liver was completely dead.
You were you were pretty bad.

1066
01:00:55,720 --> 01:00:58,560
Like, yeah, but these people are
coming in.

1067
01:00:58,600 --> 01:01:05,560
I mean, we had amazing things
happen from people reaching out

1068
01:01:05,560 --> 01:01:07,240
to our family during the entire
time.

1069
01:01:07,840 --> 01:01:14,080
One of them was gift cards, our
church and people, people from

1070
01:01:14,080 --> 01:01:17,880
around the country just to find
out about us.

1071
01:01:17,880 --> 01:01:22,280
And we were getting these 10 and
$15 Starbucks and Chick-fil-A

1072
01:01:22,280 --> 01:01:24,560
and Panera.
And, and I'm not kidding you,

1073
01:01:24,560 --> 01:01:28,080
they were some people would
would drop them off at our

1074
01:01:28,080 --> 01:01:33,960
church because they knew that
that that Greg English who was

1075
01:01:33,960 --> 01:01:37,720
there would get them to our boys
because that's who they were

1076
01:01:37,720 --> 01:01:42,360
really making sure had them.
So which is overwhelming to know

1077
01:01:42,360 --> 01:01:43,640
that people are doing that for
you.

1078
01:01:45,720 --> 01:01:48,960
But as Anne and I were sitting
in the room one day in

1079
01:01:48,960 --> 01:01:54,880
Charlotte, a helicopter landed
and the person being brought in

1080
01:01:54,880 --> 01:01:59,320
was a woman who was on her bike
and got run over by a tractor

1081
01:01:59,320 --> 01:02:03,800
and trailer.
And, and she was, she was

1082
01:02:03,800 --> 01:02:05,440
touched.
She was really, really banged

1083
01:02:05,440 --> 01:02:09,800
up.
And her mother flew in from out

1084
01:02:09,800 --> 01:02:12,720
of state, brought nothing with
her.

1085
01:02:12,720 --> 01:02:14,960
It was, you know, urgency, hop
on the plane, go.

1086
01:02:15,640 --> 01:02:23,160
So as we were sort of hearing
what was going on, Anne was

1087
01:02:23,160 --> 01:02:25,720
walking through the hall and
just just met the mother and

1088
01:02:25,720 --> 01:02:30,040
came in and told told me about
her and I looked at her and she

1089
01:02:30,040 --> 01:02:31,360
was digging in her pocketbook
already.

1090
01:02:31,360 --> 01:02:34,880
I didn't have to say anything,
but just having the ability for

1091
01:02:35,040 --> 01:02:39,520
for Anne to go give this lady,
you know, take these, go get

1092
01:02:39,520 --> 01:02:45,000
yourself coffee and food and,
and, and also be able to share

1093
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:47,640
with her that, you know, my
husband and I are praying for

1094
01:02:47,640 --> 01:02:51,320
your daughter and just having
her go.

1095
01:02:52,280 --> 01:02:55,200
Your husband's almost, you know,
dying there.

1096
01:02:55,200 --> 01:02:56,280
What are you doing praying for
us?

1097
01:02:56,280 --> 01:02:59,680
So, well, how can you be, how
can you be doing that?

1098
01:02:59,720 --> 01:03:05,160
So there were opportunities to
continue to pour into others,

1099
01:03:05,680 --> 01:03:07,520
you know, even though we were
going through, but there's

1100
01:03:07,520 --> 01:03:10,160
opportunities where as much
created by other people taking

1101
01:03:10,160 --> 01:03:13,760
care of us.
So it just, it was, it was just

1102
01:03:13,760 --> 01:03:16,960
this natural thing, like we're,
we're normally people who would

1103
01:03:16,960 --> 01:03:19,960
try to do stuff for others
anyhow, but like we didn't have

1104
01:03:19,960 --> 01:03:23,280
to try because so many other
people were just making it so

1105
01:03:23,280 --> 01:03:28,200
easy for us to do.
But, and then I would be, yeah.

1106
01:03:28,200 --> 01:03:30,480
And there were times people
would say, did you ever get mad

1107
01:03:30,480 --> 01:03:31,840
at God?
I was like, no, of course I

1108
01:03:31,840 --> 01:03:35,560
didn't get mad at God for this.
But I will say that there were

1109
01:03:35,560 --> 01:03:39,400
times where the argument was
very one sided.

1110
01:03:39,400 --> 01:03:43,120
So I would tell him, I would
tell him, I'm not mad at you,

1111
01:03:43,120 --> 01:03:45,720
but I disagree with this.
So.

1112
01:03:47,240 --> 01:03:50,040
Which?
Which I got to I, I had this

1113
01:03:50,040 --> 01:03:53,600
complete acceptance that he was
OK with that because he was OK

1114
01:03:53,600 --> 01:03:57,280
that I disagree, but he was
still there ready to talk

1115
01:03:57,280 --> 01:04:01,600
whenever I wanted to talk right.
So, so there may be a little

1116
01:04:02,120 --> 01:04:07,080
fuzzy theology there, but it's
but we had I will tell you that

1117
01:04:07,080 --> 01:04:11,440
I, I, I had more regular
conversations with God during

1118
01:04:11,440 --> 01:04:18,520
that time now that make it so
easy like now it's not a thing

1119
01:04:18,520 --> 01:04:21,120
to think about.
I need to stop and pray for that

1120
01:04:21,120 --> 01:04:25,800
because it was like probably one
of the biggest things.

1121
01:04:26,120 --> 01:04:29,120
I got a lot of things out of it.
One of the bigger things was

1122
01:04:32,000 --> 01:04:36,360
like, I'm always talking to him.
And so it's not a stop and think

1123
01:04:36,360 --> 01:04:40,000
about it thing.
There'll be times when and goes

1124
01:04:40,000 --> 01:04:41,960
say we need to pray about that.
I'm like, I've been praying

1125
01:04:41,960 --> 01:04:45,200
about it all day.
But yeah, but but absolutely we

1126
01:04:45,200 --> 01:04:46,320
can stop here and do it
together.

1127
01:04:47,840 --> 01:04:49,360
It it doesn't mean I always
listen.

1128
01:04:49,360 --> 01:04:54,800
I mean, I, you know, I'm human.
I I still think that I'm not

1129
01:04:54,800 --> 01:04:57,800
sure you're right about that
guy, but and then laugh at

1130
01:04:57,800 --> 01:05:00,200
myself and go, no, sorry.
Thank you for letting me get

1131
01:05:00,200 --> 01:05:04,640
through that.
So I think, you know, I'm

1132
01:05:04,640 --> 01:05:08,520
thankful for the sense of humor
that he gave me sometimes.

1133
01:05:08,520 --> 01:05:10,840
He probably, you know, probably
so I gave you too much of A

1134
01:05:10,840 --> 01:05:15,880
sense of humor, Brian.
So but I'll tell you the things

1135
01:05:15,880 --> 01:05:25,800
that we do now.
I think I see more clearly how

1136
01:05:25,800 --> 01:05:32,320
do I want to phrase this?
I don't question if I think God

1137
01:05:32,320 --> 01:05:36,760
is moving me a certain way.
Now I I think I have more

1138
01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:41,040
clarity on that to to know that,
OK, yes, this is going to lead

1139
01:05:41,040 --> 01:05:45,160
to something good worthy.
So I'm this is the right thing

1140
01:05:45,160 --> 01:05:49,720
to go do as opposed to going,
yeah, I'm not sure if that's the

1141
01:05:49,720 --> 01:05:51,320
right thing or not.
I don't, I don't think I see

1142
01:05:51,320 --> 01:05:55,800
those things.
I don't think I question things

1143
01:05:55,800 --> 01:05:58,720
as much as I used to.
And and I grew up in a Christian

1144
01:05:58,720 --> 01:06:01,280
family.
I, you know, I accepted Christ

1145
01:06:01,280 --> 01:06:04,560
when I was young.
Of course, coming to your

1146
01:06:04,560 --> 01:06:08,480
rebellious 20s and 30s, you can
go through that stuff, maybe not

1147
01:06:08,480 --> 01:06:13,120
30s, but but where you question
things like why did this happen?

1148
01:06:13,320 --> 01:06:18,400
Why did this happen?
I never questioned like I, I

1149
01:06:18,400 --> 01:06:22,800
never once said why even with
the, even with the liver and

1150
01:06:22,800 --> 01:06:27,600
kidney diagnosis, it was never
why it was, it was always what's

1151
01:06:27,600 --> 01:06:29,000
next?
Like what are we going to do

1152
01:06:29,000 --> 01:06:33,440
now?
And we even, like, it's one of

1153
01:06:33,440 --> 01:06:35,600
the things we say to each other.
A couple other little catch

1154
01:06:35,600 --> 01:06:38,640
phrases that Anne and I have now
is, OK, what's next?

1155
01:06:39,840 --> 01:06:43,960
Or the other thing we say, we
used to say, we used to say what

1156
01:06:43,960 --> 01:06:48,760
else could possibly happen?
That phrase will get something

1157
01:06:48,760 --> 01:06:53,680
thrown at you in our house.
Now it's the phrase was replaced

1158
01:06:53,680 --> 01:06:58,120
by why not?
Because I think we're, we're,

1159
01:06:58,160 --> 01:07:00,920
we're equipped to deal with it
and that's how we approach it.

1160
01:07:00,920 --> 01:07:02,840
It's like, OK, you know, why
not?

1161
01:07:04,160 --> 01:07:07,000
And so there have been some
rough things that have happened

1162
01:07:07,000 --> 01:07:08,560
along the way.
It's not like the past 6 1/2

1163
01:07:08,560 --> 01:07:11,360
years have been smooth.
There've been a lot of, and even

1164
01:07:11,360 --> 01:07:13,040
today, I would tell you that
there are things that we

1165
01:07:13,040 --> 01:07:19,800
probably we wonder about, but I
think we wonder about them in a

1166
01:07:19,800 --> 01:07:24,600
way that's not questioning them.
It's just OK, why not?

1167
01:07:24,960 --> 01:07:31,440
So because we, yeah, we, we see,
we see all the good and we see

1168
01:07:31,440 --> 01:07:35,160
where these things are going.
We don't know exactly where it

1169
01:07:35,160 --> 01:07:39,080
is, but we're just going.
So, yeah.

1170
01:07:39,080 --> 01:07:43,240
So that's where we are.
And I hope this is hope.

1171
01:07:43,280 --> 01:07:45,120
I hope that I've made sense in
some of this.

1172
01:07:45,120 --> 01:07:49,040
I think sometimes my brain
wonders a little bit and it's.

1173
01:07:50,760 --> 01:07:53,480
Now this has been very, very,
very clear.

1174
01:07:54,040 --> 01:07:57,480
Let me let me do a quick recap
here because you have covered

1175
01:07:57,480 --> 01:08:03,960
significant ground.
So 2018 you are diagnosed with

1176
01:08:04,240 --> 01:08:10,360
end stage liver failure and
stage 4 kidney failure that

1177
01:08:10,720 --> 01:08:17,080
progresses over a a period of
days and weeks to ultimately

1178
01:08:17,080 --> 01:08:23,840
stage 5 kidney failure and
essentially a liver score of 40

1179
01:08:23,840 --> 01:08:27,279
out of 40.
Meaning it's game over

1180
01:08:27,439 --> 01:08:36,760
essentially and you are blessed
with a donor for replacing both

1181
01:08:36,760 --> 01:08:44,240
of those organs and you recover
from that in a roughly handful

1182
01:08:44,240 --> 01:08:46,680
of days in terms of being
discharged from the hospital.

1183
01:08:47,200 --> 01:08:50,040
And then naturally many things
and and recovery post op.

1184
01:08:50,040 --> 01:08:58,960
And approximately 3 years later,
you have a heart attack, a full

1185
01:08:58,960 --> 01:09:07,800
blown heart attack in October of
2021 and you survived that as

1186
01:09:07,800 --> 01:09:12,279
well.
Which leads me then to the

1187
01:09:12,279 --> 01:09:17,160
question of Brian.
Why do you believe you are still

1188
01:09:17,160 --> 01:09:22,279
alive?
Yeah, so I got asked that after

1189
01:09:22,279 --> 01:09:27,479
the transplant and I and I, I, I
would tell people very honestly,

1190
01:09:27,479 --> 01:09:35,120
I'm not sure along with, but I
know I'm here for a reason, not

1191
01:09:35,120 --> 01:09:41,200
sure of the reason.
After the heart attack there

1192
01:09:41,200 --> 01:09:43,120
there were a lot of other things
going on around the heart

1193
01:09:43,120 --> 01:09:44,640
attack.
And the heart attack also

1194
01:09:44,640 --> 01:09:48,279
provided some additional clarity
on what I wasn't supposed to do.

1195
01:09:48,920 --> 01:09:50,240
It wasn't I was doing anything
bad.

1196
01:09:50,240 --> 01:09:52,920
It just provided clarity with
who am I supposed to be doing

1197
01:09:52,920 --> 01:09:55,800
things with.
And I think maybe I was doing

1198
01:09:55,800 --> 01:09:59,640
some things with some of the
with one or two people that just

1199
01:10:00,720 --> 01:10:03,120
I probably wasn't supposed to
continue doing things with.

1200
01:10:03,480 --> 01:10:05,840
And I wasn't, nothing was
nothing wrong with being done.

1201
01:10:05,840 --> 01:10:10,960
It was just sort of a unequally
yoked type relationship with the

1202
01:10:10,960 --> 01:10:17,040
business.
And so the acceptance of where

1203
01:10:17,040 --> 01:10:22,320
what I'm feeling led to do and
why I think I'm still here was a

1204
01:10:23,360 --> 01:10:27,800
has been a little, it's not been
comfortable, but I don't think

1205
01:10:27,800 --> 01:10:31,640
we're guaranteed comfort.
Like I, I mean, hey, we're,

1206
01:10:33,040 --> 01:10:36,600
we're going to take an
opportunity to things, but, but

1207
01:10:36,600 --> 01:10:41,640
we had a certain comfort level
prior to the transplant running

1208
01:10:41,640 --> 01:10:44,720
a successful investment advisory
practice and, and doing a lot of

1209
01:10:44,720 --> 01:10:48,920
things that as a family and for
other people and, and our, our,

1210
01:10:50,840 --> 01:10:55,480
our pathway for that's a little
different now, but purpose feels

1211
01:10:55,800 --> 01:11:02,240
much higher.
So for me, I'm passionate about

1212
01:11:02,240 --> 01:11:05,080
a lot of things.
I'm, I'm, I'm passionate about

1213
01:11:05,080 --> 01:11:08,320
things being done well for the
right reasons.

1214
01:11:10,360 --> 01:11:13,440
What that's led to and, and
where I think we're heading with

1215
01:11:13,440 --> 01:11:21,080
this is I never pictured myself
being fully in the nonprofit

1216
01:11:21,080 --> 01:11:26,120
world.
And if I did, I never knew

1217
01:11:26,120 --> 01:11:30,880
exactly where what I like to do
though, and be a part of is I

1218
01:11:30,880 --> 01:11:35,560
like doing things that advance
Kingdom things, right?

1219
01:11:35,720 --> 01:11:38,000
And so you and I know what I'm
talking about there.

1220
01:11:39,640 --> 01:11:45,880
What I found is there is a
nonprofit down here that serves

1221
01:11:45,880 --> 01:11:50,320
faith-based nonprofits.
And so I think that and I don't

1222
01:11:50,320 --> 01:11:52,840
know if this is where it ends up
going or not.

1223
01:11:52,880 --> 01:11:58,040
I where I am right now is
starting to do whatever I can to

1224
01:11:58,040 --> 01:12:01,640
help this nonprofit that helps
other faith-based nonprofits

1225
01:12:01,640 --> 01:12:05,640
succeed.
And I have AI believe I have a

1226
01:12:05,640 --> 01:12:11,200
certain skill set that I could
add to that to be additive to it

1227
01:12:11,200 --> 01:12:14,320
and make that happen.
Now, from a financial

1228
01:12:14,320 --> 01:12:19,520
standpoint, it's not the same.
It's but I don't, but I haven't

1229
01:12:19,520 --> 01:12:22,480
been as worried about that.
And I, and I don't want to say

1230
01:12:22,480 --> 01:12:25,480
that my wife's been worried
about it either, but it's, it's

1231
01:12:25,720 --> 01:12:29,640
clarifying that picture is where
probably some of the fuzziness

1232
01:12:29,640 --> 01:12:33,640
might be, but I'm also confident
that that's all going to work

1233
01:12:33,640 --> 01:12:39,360
out.
So, so I think, I think I have

1234
01:12:39,360 --> 01:12:46,680
an opportunity to and I think
I'm being led to, I mean, with,

1235
01:12:48,280 --> 01:12:50,920
I'm 58, I've been around for a
while and I have a lot of

1236
01:12:50,920 --> 01:12:54,800
different experiences in life
and I've been, I've been through

1237
01:12:54,800 --> 01:12:56,480
some things as you've heard, I
mean.

1238
01:12:59,960 --> 01:13:02,120
That's putting it lightly.
And so being able to come

1239
01:13:02,120 --> 01:13:07,720
alongside people in a number of
different ways to, to, to pick

1240
01:13:07,720 --> 01:13:13,280
them up, to encourage them.
In the case of there, there are

1241
01:13:13,280 --> 01:13:16,400
a lot of nonprofits that do a
lot of good things with

1242
01:13:16,400 --> 01:13:22,120
faith-based and secular.
And, but in that world, there

1243
01:13:22,120 --> 01:13:25,000
are a lot of them that are, that
aren't run well and there's a

1244
01:13:25,000 --> 01:13:26,320
lot of reasons they're not
running well.

1245
01:13:26,320 --> 01:13:31,360
And you have you have extremely
well meaning founders of those

1246
01:13:31,360 --> 01:13:34,760
who are so passionate but don't
build good teams around

1247
01:13:34,760 --> 01:13:37,040
themselves.
And so if they don't take care

1248
01:13:37,040 --> 01:13:40,040
of that process and put good
teams around themselves, they're

1249
01:13:40,040 --> 01:13:43,280
not going to be sustainable and,
and the world's going to end up

1250
01:13:43,280 --> 01:13:44,800
missing out on what they can do
well.

1251
01:13:45,960 --> 01:13:49,600
It makes a difference.
So where I think I'm being LED

1252
01:13:49,600 --> 01:13:52,080
is to be a part of an
organization that can help that

1253
01:13:53,480 --> 01:13:56,640
and help sustain, help sustain
organizations and people that

1254
01:13:56,640 --> 01:13:58,640
are doing things to make the
world a better place.

1255
01:13:59,040 --> 01:14:02,480
So, so that's where that's where
I think this is all.

1256
01:14:02,480 --> 01:14:06,720
And I also think that's why
we're in Charlotte, because

1257
01:14:07,000 --> 01:14:10,040
there is a, there is a spirit
for that down here.

1258
01:14:11,680 --> 01:14:14,040
And it's not that it doesn't
exist other places, it's just

1259
01:14:14,040 --> 01:14:16,280
that I haven't experienced it
other places the way I've

1260
01:14:16,280 --> 01:14:20,680
experienced it here.
And, and again, that doesn't

1261
01:14:20,680 --> 01:14:22,440
mean it's not in a lot of other
places.

1262
01:14:22,480 --> 01:14:24,400
It's just I haven't experienced,
I haven't been everywhere.

1263
01:14:24,840 --> 01:14:29,000
So I think there are so many
reasons.

1264
01:14:29,000 --> 01:14:38,080
Well, like even for Anne, it's
important that for me that she

1265
01:14:38,080 --> 01:14:41,560
also feel like this is where
she's supposed to be and when

1266
01:14:42,280 --> 01:14:45,320
and watching these two things
sort of work together hand in

1267
01:14:45,320 --> 01:14:47,760
hand.
Again, it hasn't been our

1268
01:14:47,760 --> 01:14:51,720
timeline, right?
So there are things that I wish

1269
01:14:51,720 --> 01:14:54,720
it happened much sooner and some
things that I'm surprised have

1270
01:14:54,720 --> 01:15:00,400
happened as soon as they have.
But it where we are in our life

1271
01:15:00,400 --> 01:15:02,520
and in our belief system and
everything else, we are at a

1272
01:15:02,520 --> 01:15:05,600
point where we laugh about those
now, but we laugh because

1273
01:15:05,600 --> 01:15:07,200
they're like joyful things,
right?

1274
01:15:07,200 --> 01:15:10,320
So, and it doesn't mean that
life's without stresses.

1275
01:15:10,360 --> 01:15:13,640
There's, you know, you and I
will both probably get stressed

1276
01:15:13,640 --> 01:15:15,920
over something or have some
situation happen 10 minutes

1277
01:15:15,920 --> 01:15:21,040
after those calls over.
But knowing that those things

1278
01:15:21,040 --> 01:15:24,400
are, those are temporary things
that we just don't like in the

1279
01:15:24,400 --> 01:15:28,240
way of, of good things, right.
So does that make sense?

1280
01:15:28,240 --> 01:15:31,080
So that's the best I can give
you for what you know, what I

1281
01:15:31,080 --> 01:15:34,120
think is purpose here.
I, I don't know the end game.

1282
01:15:34,120 --> 01:15:38,800
Well, a funny thing about end
game, if, if you don't mind me

1283
01:15:38,800 --> 01:15:42,400
sort of going back just a little
bit as we're about to walk into

1284
01:15:42,400 --> 01:15:46,880
the operating room or be wheeled
in for me back, back on

1285
01:15:46,880 --> 01:15:51,040
Thanksgiving Day, 2018, my, the
liver surgeon, the head liver

1286
01:15:51,040 --> 01:15:54,520
surgeon that day, who I, I
became close with the entire

1287
01:15:54,520 --> 01:15:59,320
teams, like all the teams, but
the head liver surgeon was, was

1288
01:15:59,320 --> 01:16:01,600
the last one I was talking to as
we were getting willed in.

1289
01:16:02,720 --> 01:16:05,200
And when he came down that
morning, he looked at me, he

1290
01:16:05,200 --> 01:16:06,960
goes, he goes, well, how are you
feeling?

1291
01:16:06,960 --> 01:16:11,640
And I said, I'm feeling great.
He goes, you look really happy

1292
01:16:11,640 --> 01:16:13,600
this morning.
And I said, well, I am happy.

1293
01:16:14,320 --> 01:16:17,560
And we'd had a, we'd had a
spiritual and theological

1294
01:16:17,560 --> 01:16:21,160
discussion prior to that.
And I was very happy with his

1295
01:16:21,160 --> 01:16:24,040
belief system for where I was
heading, You know what I was

1296
01:16:24,040 --> 01:16:26,880
about to go through.
And he goes, are you happy

1297
01:16:26,880 --> 01:16:27,920
because you're getting the new
liver?

1298
01:16:28,000 --> 01:16:29,520
I said, well, I'm happy about
that.

1299
01:16:29,840 --> 01:16:31,400
I said, I'm happy about
something else.

1300
01:16:32,720 --> 01:16:34,040
And, you know, we were touch and
go.

1301
01:16:34,040 --> 01:16:36,920
And there were a lot of days
where it's like we're not sure.

1302
01:16:38,360 --> 01:16:41,040
And he goes, well, what's that?
And I said, wherever I wake up,

1303
01:16:41,040 --> 01:16:44,640
it's going to be great.
And he looked at me.

1304
01:16:44,640 --> 01:16:46,240
He knew what?
He knew exactly what I meant.

1305
01:16:46,240 --> 01:16:51,960
He said, well, OK, so it was
like, and then then he said, do

1306
01:16:51,960 --> 01:16:55,520
you mind if I pray over you?
And I was like, absolutely not.

1307
01:16:55,800 --> 01:16:58,160
Then my surgeon wants to pray
over me before we go in.

1308
01:17:00,040 --> 01:17:02,520
I'm all about that.
So the confidence level with

1309
01:17:02,520 --> 01:17:07,040
going in and the comfort level
is as comfortable as you can be,

1310
01:17:09,080 --> 01:17:14,520
you know, going in where you're,
yeah, you're not, it's not 100%

1311
01:17:14,520 --> 01:17:16,400
guarantee you're going to make
it out of this thing, right?

1312
01:17:16,400 --> 01:17:21,760
So, but just having this, you
know, even even saying goodbye

1313
01:17:21,760 --> 01:17:24,120
to Ann that morning was, you
know, see you in a little bit.

1314
01:17:24,280 --> 01:17:29,040
So it was like, we're good.
But I was extremely, I was

1315
01:17:29,040 --> 01:17:31,480
extremely happy that morning,
extremely confident that

1316
01:17:31,480 --> 01:17:33,080
wherever I woke up, it was going
to be great.

1317
01:17:33,440 --> 01:17:37,200
So, so yeah.
So I think confidence in that,

1318
01:17:37,880 --> 01:17:41,720
not that it's ever been low, but
it couldn't be any higher.

1319
01:17:42,400 --> 01:17:46,040
Like I, I have discussed with
some people who was like, I am

1320
01:17:46,040 --> 01:17:50,440
100% convinced of this.
So I'm, and I have some

1321
01:17:50,440 --> 01:17:52,760
experiences along the way to
sort of back that up.

1322
01:17:53,840 --> 01:17:54,800
That's a whole different
discussion.

1323
01:17:54,800 --> 01:17:57,800
If you want to have that, that's
probably, you know, like it's

1324
01:17:57,800 --> 01:17:59,120
weird looks if I share some of
those.

1325
01:17:59,840 --> 01:18:04,920
Yeah, right on.
Well, man, thanks for sharing so

1326
01:18:04,920 --> 01:18:08,240
much about all of that.
We wrap each of these

1327
01:18:08,240 --> 01:18:12,960
conversations up with two main
questions, the first of which

1328
01:18:12,960 --> 01:18:17,920
is, was it coincidence or God,
Brian?

1329
01:18:18,160 --> 01:18:23,160
I try not to laugh when I answer
that question because I've had

1330
01:18:23,160 --> 01:18:25,080
this conversation with a few
people along the way.

1331
01:18:27,480 --> 01:18:37,000
Again, without question, I 100%
this was got for me through

1332
01:18:37,000 --> 01:18:39,480
through the entire thing.
There was no, there are no

1333
01:18:39,480 --> 01:18:43,080
coincidences with how all of
this has happened, including up

1334
01:18:43,080 --> 01:18:46,960
to the point as to, to where we
are now and things that are

1335
01:18:46,960 --> 01:18:50,200
going on in our life now.
We, you know, this, this path

1336
01:18:50,200 --> 01:18:52,840
started way more than 6 1/2
years ago.

1337
01:18:52,840 --> 01:18:55,840
And I couldn't tell you exactly
when, but I think you know, you

1338
01:18:55,840 --> 01:19:00,160
and I both know that it started
a long time ago, but over the

1339
01:19:00,160 --> 01:19:03,840
past, the 6 1/2 years ago, I
didn't know I'd be here today.

1340
01:19:05,200 --> 01:19:09,480
But now looking back, it's like
so obvious how we got here.

1341
01:19:10,040 --> 01:19:18,400
And so, and so the God thing is
knowing that wherever we are 6

1342
01:19:18,400 --> 01:19:22,680
1/2 years from now, like I, I, I
know that it's all put together.

1343
01:19:23,000 --> 01:19:27,280
So, so yeah, it's not, there's 0
coincidence.

1344
01:19:28,400 --> 01:19:31,160
And I and I have more stories
about us being down here and

1345
01:19:31,160 --> 01:19:33,920
things that have happened down
here should be a whole another

1346
01:19:33,920 --> 01:19:39,320
story, including I, I mentioned
earlier to you, including ties

1347
01:19:39,320 --> 01:19:42,080
to the first church that we
visited when we were down here

1348
01:19:42,720 --> 01:19:44,600
and Anne walking to the church
and going.

1349
01:19:45,000 --> 01:19:50,160
I've been here before and, and,
and the whole story about and

1350
01:19:50,160 --> 01:19:52,680
she had been years ago for
another reason.

1351
01:19:52,680 --> 01:19:58,400
But, but it was just those
things happen not daily, but

1352
01:19:59,360 --> 01:20:03,800
often not coincidental stuff.
So yeah.

1353
01:20:05,480 --> 01:20:09,080
Right on.
Well, Brian, the final question

1354
01:20:09,080 --> 01:20:14,000
that we ask is how has your life
changed as a result of

1355
01:20:14,040 --> 01:20:15,680
everything that you've
described?

1356
01:20:15,680 --> 01:20:18,880
And you've certainly alluded to
some of that along the way.

1357
01:20:18,880 --> 01:20:22,840
But tell us, tell us a bit more
how life changed.

1358
01:20:23,520 --> 01:20:28,000
More than what I've told you, I
think the way I see things and

1359
01:20:28,000 --> 01:20:30,480
the way I appreciate things is
probably different now.

1360
01:20:31,880 --> 01:20:35,440
I, you know, part of this is
probably age as well.

1361
01:20:38,200 --> 01:20:43,960
I laugh because I stop and take
in like smells, I take in

1362
01:20:43,960 --> 01:20:52,600
sunrises, I take in sunsets.
I, and for me it's, I think, I

1363
01:20:52,600 --> 01:20:56,000
think I, I, I probably wore
people out with posting pictures

1364
01:20:56,000 --> 01:21:02,880
of sunrises because I just, but
for a while seeing them was

1365
01:21:02,880 --> 01:21:04,720
like, it was such a gift to see
the next one.

1366
01:21:05,360 --> 01:21:07,680
And so there's so much
appreciation to see in the

1367
01:21:07,680 --> 01:21:12,800
beauty of that and waking up in
the commonalities, waking up

1368
01:21:12,960 --> 01:21:16,400
like every morning, OK, you kept
me here for another day.

1369
01:21:16,600 --> 01:21:20,400
What do you have for me?
And so the approach to the days

1370
01:21:20,680 --> 01:21:24,880
has changed because it's not
here's another day.

1371
01:21:24,960 --> 01:21:27,000
It's all right.
You kept me around for another

1372
01:21:27,000 --> 01:21:28,120
one.
What do you have for me today?

1373
01:21:29,560 --> 01:21:35,240
And it's the appreciation of not
just not just ending the day,

1374
01:21:35,240 --> 01:21:37,520
but trying to figure out where
can we get to see the sunset?

1375
01:21:39,000 --> 01:21:40,960
And and that's down here.
It's great because we go

1376
01:21:40,960 --> 01:21:42,080
upstairs at the top of the
building.

1377
01:21:45,440 --> 01:21:51,600
But that I, I think like I've
always enjoyed meeting new

1378
01:21:51,600 --> 01:21:54,040
people, but now it's like
excitement to go meet new

1379
01:21:54,040 --> 01:21:55,840
people.
It's excitement to figure out

1380
01:21:55,920 --> 01:22:00,400
like, here's someone else's
story, you know, how can I

1381
01:22:00,400 --> 01:22:03,000
connect them to something
they're trying to get to and

1382
01:22:03,000 --> 01:22:05,600
being thankful for the
opportunity to have like another

1383
01:22:05,600 --> 01:22:10,720
day to do that.
So and I just, it's not that I

1384
01:22:10,720 --> 01:22:13,760
necessarily wasn't like that
before, but now it's just so

1385
01:22:13,760 --> 01:22:21,080
much more intentional.
And yeah, yeah, I think that's

1386
01:22:21,080 --> 01:22:24,400
probably the biggest thing.
I mean, I, I, I think just being

1387
01:22:24,400 --> 01:22:26,240
way more appreciative for
everything.

1388
01:22:28,240 --> 01:22:30,360
Yeah, I still have all the, all
the shortcomings and everything

1389
01:22:30,360 --> 01:22:34,280
else.
I can't, I can't shake those,

1390
01:22:34,560 --> 01:22:36,080
but I try to be more aware of
them.

1391
01:22:36,200 --> 01:22:41,880
So and just more great.
Sounds like some of the corners.

1392
01:22:41,880 --> 01:22:44,640
Got rounded 100% for us.
A lot of them got rounded off.

1393
01:22:45,040 --> 01:22:47,520
I think the big, the bigger
thing is just the appreciation

1394
01:22:47,520 --> 01:22:55,360
for appreciation for things.
So yeah, and, and life,

1395
01:22:55,640 --> 01:22:57,960
appreciate your life.
That's what I think.

1396
01:22:57,960 --> 01:22:59,200
That's what you're, that's what
you're meaning.

1397
01:22:59,480 --> 01:23:03,080
It's it's thankfulness and
gratitude are, are two huge

1398
01:23:03,080 --> 01:23:05,720
things.
Again, not that it wasn't

1399
01:23:05,720 --> 01:23:07,600
before, but then much more
intentional.

1400
01:23:08,400 --> 01:23:11,600
And I also realize it like I
real, it's those moments where

1401
01:23:11,600 --> 01:23:15,960
you you realize you need to stop
and give thanks for this as

1402
01:23:15,960 --> 01:23:18,560
opposed to thinking I'll give
thanks for it later when I have

1403
01:23:18,560 --> 01:23:23,200
time.
Yeah, realizing that that's no

1404
01:23:23,200 --> 01:23:26,400
longer a thing.
If I, if I need to give thanks

1405
01:23:26,400 --> 01:23:28,960
for, or there's times where I
need to call somebody or, you

1406
01:23:28,960 --> 01:23:32,640
know, something that's, it's
almost, it's hard for me to put

1407
01:23:32,640 --> 01:23:41,720
that off now because, you know,
September 17th, 2018, I, I knew

1408
01:23:41,720 --> 01:23:47,880
I had 20-30 more years.
September 18th, like I got 60

1409
01:23:47,880 --> 01:23:52,720
more days, you know, October
14th, I've got, I'm going to run

1410
01:23:52,720 --> 01:23:54,520
a golf tournament and I've got
all this stuff to do over the

1411
01:23:54,520 --> 01:23:58,280
next three months to if I'd
waited 5 more minutes, I

1412
01:24:00,160 --> 01:24:01,760
wouldn't have had the next day.
So.

1413
01:24:02,720 --> 01:24:12,120
So that's a big thing now, yeah.
Brian, thank you.

1414
01:24:12,960 --> 01:24:17,760
There is no question that people
that hear this are going to be

1415
01:24:17,760 --> 01:24:21,120
blessed.
I really appreciate you sharing

1416
01:24:21,120 --> 01:24:22,440
this man.
Well, you're welcome.

1417
01:24:23,000 --> 01:24:25,240
Eventually I'll have a book
written for some of this.

1418
01:24:25,600 --> 01:24:28,600
I think I've written five books
and I don't have one out yet.

1419
01:24:28,600 --> 01:24:34,680
So I thought somebody, I think
I've probably got 500 or 600

1420
01:24:34,680 --> 01:24:36,040
pages of things written down and
every.

1421
01:24:36,160 --> 01:24:39,200
It's like people keep asking me
here, are you going to write a

1422
01:24:39,200 --> 01:24:42,440
book about this?
I'm like, yeah, eventually.

1423
01:24:43,920 --> 01:24:46,440
So.
So maybe one day I'll have a

1424
01:24:46,440 --> 01:24:47,160
book to send you.
Well.

1425
01:24:50,720 --> 01:24:55,360
I would love to read it Ryan.
Genuine thanks man.

1426
01:24:55,960 --> 01:25:03,680
It's been so much for having me.
Was it coincidence or God?

1427
01:25:04,200 --> 01:25:08,920
You decide for yourself, but I
believe you just heard a story

1428
01:25:08,920 --> 01:25:12,920
for His glory.
When You Look is powered by

1429
01:25:12,920 --> 01:25:16,440
stories just like this and yours
could be next.

1430
01:25:16,840 --> 01:25:21,040
Go to whenyoulook.com/be a guest
or use the link in the

1431
01:25:21,040 --> 01:25:25,040
description below.
Drop us a comment and share this

1432
01:25:25,040 --> 01:25:27,120
episode with somebody that needs
it.

1433
01:25:27,680 --> 01:25:31,880
Until next time, thanks a bunch
for listening and watching, and

1434
01:25:31,880 --> 01:25:32,720
God bless.