James Pollone's Family

Thank you for being a part of my father’s life. It means a great deal to me knowing that he had such amazing friends who loved and supported him. My father was a kind, loving, caring and goofy man. His smile was contagious, and he was unintentionally good at making everyone laugh. He didn’t take life too seriously and always talked about his love for golf.

On his 58th birthday on July 29th, 2021, he was enjoying dinner at a steakhouse with his wife and his good friend. After a glass of wine, he seemed extremely drunk and incoherent. He was trying to speak, but his words were inaudible. The following day, he was diagnosed with a massive brain tumor that was shifting his brain and was immediately rushed to the hospital. Our lives changed overnight… We tried our best to stay positive and pray that the tumor was benign and hopefully curable through surgery. Unfortunately, it was at stage 4 of the most aggressive form of terminal brain cancer. He continuously took more than a dozen medications and steroids, followed by mood swings and personality changes. It was a hard pill to swallow for all of us.

He was and will always be my hero. He was a true fighter and fought as hard as he could for 11 long months, but his quality of life deteriorated day after day. We were under the impression that chemo and radiation therapy would temporarily let him return to his normal life. Hoping he could go back to doing what he loves most - playing golf. We tried taking him to play golf a few times, but it was physically exhausting and he couldn’t swing without losing his balance. I guess the point is that life is short, and you never know when that day will come. His father, my grandfather is alive, so with that, I assumed I had much more time with my dad. I was calculating his life span as if it were a damn math equation… but that’s not the reality of life.

I am incredibly thankful for all the conversations we were able to have in the hospital/facilities. There were a lot of great memories we shared and a lot of tears shed. One of the last conversations we shared was my dad telling me how scared he was and that he loved me very much. He also said to always be kind to people. I will never forget his goofy smile, love for steak and sushi dinners, luxurious cars and watches, and of course, his passion for golf. I will always remember the great memories, valuable life lessons, and his sensible humor.

Thank you for reading this long message. All donations will go towards accumulated expenses since James's diagnosis 11 months ago. Since then, we managed to move from Vegas to California to meet the best neurosurgeons at UCI Medical Center. He has undergone two craniotomy brain surgeries, three rounds of chemotherapy, weeks of radiation therapy, months of physical therapy, moving to different care facilities and then being placed in a board and care home with hospice care. These expenses added up very quickly. We will not be holding a funeral. Instead, we are going the cremation route and will be placing his ashes at a cemetery.

Much love and Mahalo.