Health Care For All
About Mike
We could write a lot about Mike here. We could write paragraphs about how much he meant to us and others.
But it’s better to see all of the people in his life share their stories o’ Mike.
Discussion
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Second annual Eat at Mike’s
Reserve now
Life o' Mike sponsors its second annual Eat at Mike's, an evening of good food prepared by local chefs, at Tingles Cafe in downtown Asheville. The event also features silent and live auctions with items from Highlands Brewing, artist Angela C. Alexander and more.
Tickets to the dinner are $25; $20 for children 3-12 and free for children under 3.
To reserve, e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com. For more information, call 828-243-6712.
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a new peer support program for people newly diagnosed with chronic or serious illness or with a new disability and their caregivers.
Patient Pals are people who have experience with various illnesses and disabilities, who can help someone newly diagnosed or with a new disability work through the fear, frustration, confusion and grief often experienced in the first few months.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
People with new illness or disability fare better when they have a role model -- someone who can help them negotiate their new path in life.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Mike is my uncle. He was loved by so many people. I dont think he ever knew but he was a hero to me. He got sober and made me proud.I know that he loved his life and the people in it. He taught me something that I will live by for the rest of my life, the true meaning of live life like there is no tomorrow. I still don’t fully understand how he meant celbrate his life.I miss him more then anything.I wish every single day that I could have spent more time with him and have gotten closer. I’ve seen how devastated my dad was and it made me realize no matter how much me and my sister argue anything could happen and we could loke eachother. I know he enjoyed his life, even the day he died. I remember walking into the room he was in and seeing him and seeing that he looked like he was really dying, just skin and bones, no fat, no nothing. I’m gonna miss him so much but I know he is in a better place with people and watching over me.
He was always amazed by your kind and gentle spirit. I have to work to remember him before he was sick, too, but those memories will come back to us in time.
I feel so blessed to have known Mike and to have had him in my life, even though is wasn’t for very long. I have a younger sister, but I had always wished that I had a fun older brother, and I got that when Mike moved in across the street. He was witty and sarcastic but had such a great sense of humor and was disgustingly smart. Some of my favorite times in Savannah was sitting on Mike and Janet’s front porch and just being. There was laughter, there were tears because of laughter, there were some serious moments, there was honesty, but my favorite was the good conversations we all always had.
I lived alone for my final quarter at SCAD (roomie went to France), and a few days after she had left, I got a knock at my door and there was Mike, in his flannel PJs. He had come over to chat and to see how I was doing with Becca being gone, and then he, Janet and I spent the afternoon just talking (and me not doing homework). He was the only person willing to play Monopoly with me- it’s my favorite game and no one ever wanted to play! But he did, and we used his Star Wars (or Trek) game board…yeah he won. It was really weird not seeing Mike and Janet on their front stoop after they moved. One time Becca and I had gotten a wee tipsy and decided that we wanted to hang out with them, but instead of ringing the doorbell and asking them to come chat, we plopped ourselves on the front stoop and waited. Their faces were priceless when they saw two slightly drunk girls on their property.
I really do have a lot of great memories of Mike and I’m holding onto them for dear life. I miss him so much. I feel fortunate too, because when I did finally meet him, things were on the upswing as far as his cancer treatments were going, and while he was tired he always had a positive attitude. He and I even talked about having our own house flipping business in North Carolina- he was so proud to have a tool chest full of big burly man tools and loved doing the carpentry work that he did when he was able to stop using the nephrostomy tube for that short time.
He will always be one of my favorite people.
Sometimes, things remind me of a Mike story. I had an e-mail this morning asking about the “crazy vacation.”
That was in April 1990. My father had died in January and we wanted to do something in memory of him as spring began to break.
Daddy used to say that the best months of the year are the ones little girls are named for — April, May and June. So, we scheduled a 3-day vacation over Easter weekend to do a whale watch because Daddy had loved the ocean and he loved P’town.
We were quite the rowdy gang — me, Mike, his favorite cousin, Shannon, my stepmother, Barbara, and my friend, Nancy Cacioppo. We all stayed in one hotel room with two double beds and a cot.
We sang at the drop of a hat. Literally. One of us would drop a hat and we’d all burst into song:
“We’re on vacation, we’re on vacation
And we won’t go home ’til our money is all gone!”
Mike was really into it until there was a pretty girl at the next table who was making eyes at him. Then, all of a sudden, he was Mr. Sophisticated.
At dinner that night, we were a little more subdued until the nice looking waiter started making eyes at Mike. Then he wanted to be obnoxious.
The whale watch was wonderful. As we got on the boat, Mike said, “I’ll know Grandpa’s spirit is happy if we see whales.”
We sailed and sailed until the captain was about to turn back and suddenly there were three whales right beside the boat, observing us as much as we were observing them. It was remarkable. Then on the way back in, two more humpbacks came up to the boat.
The next morning, as we were leaving, Barbara wanted to take a walk on race Point Beach, where she and my father had srtrolled so many times. As she walked, two whaled frolicked off the beach.
We watched for awhile and as we left the beach, Mike whispered, “Goodbye, Grandpa.”
That crazy vacation was one of the high points of all our lives.