| John came to the United States as a Ukrainian | | | | and will never walk again. He needs to stop trying to |
| immigrant when he was 14 years old. Unable to speak | | | | get out of bed and accept the fact that he can't walk |
| English but willing to do anything to succeed, John | | | | now or ever. Every time I walk out of his room, he |
| learned the language, became a barber, and opened | | | | tries to get out of the bed and then falls on the floor. I |
| up his own business in the small town of Clifton | | | | am sick of picking him up and you better warn him to |
| Heights, PA. He put two daughters through college and | | | | stay put!" |
| one through medical school during a time when most | | | | With that, she steamed out of the room, thinking she |
| people thought that women didn't need an education | | | | had dealt with her problem patient. My father smiled, |
| and that they should be satisfied getting married and | | | | put his arms behind him on the bed to brace himself, |
| having children. He had his faults but he gave us values | | | | and immediately tried to lift himself out of that bed. He |
| and ambition - a mighty combination. But this story | | | | spent a great deal of time on the floor that year, but |
| doesn't really start until my father was 60 years old. | | | | he eventually got up and walked. He never sprinted |
| I was preparing to get married and my father was | | | | across a room - it was more a will that propelled half |
| attempting to practice the polka, a must at any | | | | of his body forward and dragged the other half to |
| Ukrainian wedding. But he couldn't do it! He had lost | | | | catch up. |
| significant mobility in his leg and was soon diagnosed | | | | My father lived nineteen more years after that second |
| with a brain tumor. One surgery later, this energetic, | | | | brain surgery. He bought himself a motorized scooter |
| hard-working man was forced to retire as a result of | | | | and spent years zipping around the streets of |
| significant paralysis in his right arm and leg. My Dad had | | | | Philadelphia. He was proud, free, and always smiling. |
| always worked two jobs and spent his spare time | | | | My Father's Lesson: My father planted a belief deep in |
| working around the house. Now his life came to a | | | | my heart that taught me to never give up. No matter |
| screeching halt. Yet never once did he complain. He | | | | what misfortune comes your way, shove it aside and |
| bought rubber balls for physical therapy and spent his | | | | go for your dreams. Go for it and never give up. This |
| days trying to regain his hand mobility by squeezing | | | | is the lesson my father taught me and I then taught |
| those balls over and over. A few years later, fate | | | | my son. |
| threw him another curve ball. He was diagnosed with a | | | | My dear, sweet father died at age 89 in a nursing |
| recurring brain tumor. | | | | home. He was sharing a room with a man who was |
| I will never forget the day I went to visit him after his | | | | blind. When the blind man dropped something, my |
| second brain surgery. Smiling as always, he chatted | | | | father leaned over to help him pick it up, lost his |
| pleasantly in the hospital room until a nurse flew into | | | | balance, and hit his head. To the last minute of his life, |
| the room, waving her finger at me, and yelling, "You | | | | he was reaching out to others. |
| better tell your father to stay in bed. He is paralyzed | | | | Dad - I Will Never Give Up on My Dreams. |