The Last Message

For nearly three years, I have been corresponding with a YouTube viewer. His mom found me on YouTube and told her son how good my videos were. The son watched my videos and agreed. He then reached out to me through my Facebook business page and asked me some questions and shared some of his story with me.

The man had a congenital medical condition which is a neuromuscular disease. I understood a lot about what he was going through because I have many similar symptoms. He also had a trach and used a ventilator.

During our last conversation, he had a number of concerns about care he received in the hospital. I gave him some tips and advice. I also assured him everything would be ok. His last message was as follows: “Thank you so much. Your help really means alot to me.  Like so much that I feel like crying happy relieving tears lol”

And with that, our conversation broke off as it usually did, until he had another question or concern.

On Saturday, I received the following message from his mom:
“I want to thank you for helping my son with his health question recently. His name is (name deleted for privacy). He is my son. He lost his battle with his life long illness yesterday. You also helped me too. Thank you so much.”

I cannot tell you the devastation I felt learning of his passing. Tears quickly sprang to my eyes and cascaded down my cheeks. I was completely grief stricken and stunned. I was also touched that his mom contacted me to let me know her son had passed away. I immensely appreciate that.

My deepest condolences to his family and friends. What an incredible person he was—kind, caring and a great friend. May his memory be a blessing.

Where Have I Been? Two Months Since I Last Updated

It has been two months since I have posted on my blog. I have thought of many things to say, but my energy to type them has escaped me. I have been having very poor health. Blood clots have plagued my life. I cannot tell you the exhaustion and general sickness they have caused me. To get through each day takes a tremendous amount of resolve and determination.

And then there is YouTube. In celebration of Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week, I posted a video entitled: A Day in My Life with Mitochondrial Disease. That video did very well! The analytics on YouTube began recommending my video to more and more people. With more traffic to my channel, people began watching other videos. Soon, a video from three years ago, started gaining traction. And to my delight, my channel saw incredible growth.

The comments I have received have been overwhelming, both in number and in sincerity. People have shared their stories with me. It can be very energy draining reading about people's struggles. My heart often breaks and tears sometimes run down my cheeks, but I try my best to give people hope and encouragement.

As the weeks have passed, I have pondered if I should hire someone to monitor my social media accounts. At times, it can be too much for me. However, I am very leery of doing this because I am cautious about how I reply to people. All my responses are done from a place of love, and that may be difficult for someone monitoring my account to do.

With that, I hope everyone is doing well. I hope this season of your life is filled with lots of love and joy.

P.S. The photo is courtesy of my one my YouTube subscribers. She thought the koala would help me as I deal with my health challenges. I thought I would share the photo. I hope if brightens your day.