Jim was finally convinced to go to the Week-end Urgent Care Clinic at our local hospital about 1:00 p.m. on June 10, 2001. The nursing staff immediately started working on Jim while I did the paperwork with the clerk. He was deteriorating right before our eyes. His blood pressure was too low to read and heart rate very rapid. The urgent care physician ordered an IV to start the rehydration process, IV Lasix, IV antibiotics, oxygen and blood tests (it seemed that they were constantly drawing blood) and then transferred Jim's care to the local doctor on call.

The on call doctor ordered x-rays for Jim's lower extremities and asked lots of questions and looked for a point of entry. Blood work was still being done at this point also. We were told that somehow bacteria had gotten into his blood, his kidneys had shut down and he was septic and would need to be hospitalized with IV antibiotics.

Jim was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit -- the staff realized they had a very sick man on their hands and did everything they could to try stabilize him so that he could be transferred to a hospital more appropriate for the care he needed (his condition only grew worse). Jim was seen by several of our local doctors while in ICU. Necrotizing fasciitis was diagnosed.

I was in too much shock to fully understand the seriousness of all of this information. I work in the office of our local Home Care agency and really felt that in a couple of weeks Jim would be one of our home care patients and the nursing staff would be teaching me to change IVs and to do wound care. Little did I know?

During this time Jim was always conscious, in tremendous pain and very agitated; so much that it was hard for our children to stay in his room for long. I called friends and made arrangements for the kids to spend a night or two with them. Megan, our youngest child was the last to leave with her friends about 8:30 p.m. As she left she kissed her dad and said she would include him in her bedtime prayers and that she would see him in the morning…

Plans were being made to transfer Jim by ambulance to a larger facility even though he wasn't improving. I left Jim about 10:00 p.m. to go get clothing and put gas in the car so I could follow the ambulance. It wasn't long after I left that Jim's heart gave out… Jim's terrible suffering ended about ten hours after being admitted to the hospital. This was a man that had been at work the day before! It was all so unbelievable.

Jim and I were married March 10, 1987. Jim had worked as a seismographer from 1981 until the summer of 1993 so we traveled around the country wherever his work took him. After having two children we decided the children and I would settle down and Jim would come home during his breaks. He would be home about every two months for a week or so. At the time of his death our children were 13, 11 and 6. Jim was a good father to our children, Jimmy, Becky, and Megan. During his vacation that summer he realized that he was missing out on the most important things in a father's life…spending time with his kids. And spend time with his kids he did! He always volunteered to coach or be assistant coach in basketball, wrestling, soccer, t-ball, little league and softball. Whatever sport they were interested in trying he was willing to help them out. Jim and the kids also went to watch high school football and basketball, college basketball and Legion baseball; whatever sport was taking place. Unfortunately Jim was still trying to find the time to coach a team that Megan was on.

The doctors believe Jim's point of infection was through the sunburn he had gotten on his legs while he was at a softball tournament the weekend before. It was one of those overcast days where you put the sun screen on in the morning and then forget because the sun isn't bearing down on you.

Not only relatives and friends attended Jim's funeral but also youngsters that he had once coached. Becky's 12 and under softball team all came wearing their Yankees uniforms. Many members of the traveling basketball team that Jimmy was on last fall also attended as well as other kids Jim had coached over the years.

Our sorrow is shared with the families that have lost their loved one to a disease most of us have never heard about until is strikes someone close to you.