A Bleg For Prayers

By Wyatt Earp | July 18, 2008

Okay, if you commented on the Caption Contest you may have seen my good friend Deathlok’s snarky remark about “being close to death.”

The fact of the matter was that, while snarky, it was absolutely true.

These are the facts as I know them – and they were related to me via Vincent Antonelli and The Badger (Deathlok’s brother):

Last Sunday, Deathlok was rushed to the hospital. After sensing that his malady was very serious, he was airlifted to Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Deathlok lives in New Jersey. When he arrived at Jeff, the doctors realized that the problem was in his brain. Deathlok was either having a stroke, or something similar, and his prognosis was not good.

Later that evening, the doctors told Deathlok’s family that he had a blood clot in the brain. The “good news” was that surgery was not immediately necessary. The doctors would try and treat the clot with blood thinners. Of course, the “good” news was anything but, since his condition could worsen at any time. For the record, Deathlok is in his early 40’s.

Vinnie and I found out at our hockey game last week. Vinnie heard before the game, but didn’t tell me until afterwards – a good move, because I would have been a mess. Deathlok is a good friend, and this news was upsetting. (If anyone tells him that, I will absolutely deny it and delete it from this post.) What was worse was that we couldn’t do anything to help, and had to just sit and wait for news.

This past week has been terrible for us, his friends, so you can imagine how difficult it has been for Deathlok’s family. The doctors said he was lucky to be alive, and he – at last check – is not completely out of the woods yet. Blood clots – especially in the brain – are no joke.

I wanted to post about this immediately, but was stopped by Vinnie. He told me that it was Deathlok’s story, and if he wanted to tell it, I should give him the opportunity. He was right, so I held off. Of my blog friends, only RT knew.

We’ve been getting dribs and drabs of information every day, and the fact that he commented here today is a positive sign. Personally, I wish he’d get his rest after being so close to death, but Deathlok is nothing if not stubborn. To tell you the truth, Deathlok, you scared the living Hell out of all of us. So, hopefully, this story will have a happy ending, and Deathlok will be back to his old self again in due time.

In the meantime, if every one of you could flood his blog and wish him a speedy recovery at his most recent post (The Booze Test), I would appreciate it. But I’ll bet he’d appreciate it more.

Thank you.

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