My Grandfather is my world. He is 99 yrs young and the most kind, compassionate, strong and probably the funniest person I know. I spend time with him sitting in his garage or on his patio sipping on a cold beer while he smokes his pipe as we talk about football, family and life. He has been known to say such phrases as "kill em' with kindness" or "what good does it do to get all riled up anyhow".

He has this picture hanging in his kitchen of the Hawaiian islands. Many times during our conversations he would tell me how "next time I go to Hawaii, I want to see the big island". Next time, next time, over and over I heard this from him thinking to myself, "Papa, you are 90+ yrs old and you keep saying next time you go to Hawaii??" Sounded crazy right?

Well after much consideration and talking with my wife and mother I thought, what the hell, let's take Papa to Hawaii! I asked him and he said "hell yeah!" My wife put together a gift for him, a book of sorts with pictures of the big island, our accommodations and a golden ticket. An all expense paid vacation for him and my mother to go to the big island with us, and we gave it to him at a luau/BBQ we had at his house for his 99th birthday. His response...a Michael Jordan/Tiger Woods esque fist pump.

We live in Northern California, and around Christmas time it had been cold and rainy, I asked Papa if he was ready for Christmas. he says, "I'm ready to go to Hawaii and stay there until springtime when the weather gets better around here". Haha! Here I am thinking, he might have second thoughts and not want to travel that far and he is already packed up to leave.

So, the day has come, January 30th, 2017. I am picking Papa and my mom up at 3 in the morning to catch our flight to Hawaii. We are halfway there when I realize I left an important piece of medical equipment my wife needs, back at the house. After rushing back home and then to the airport, I drop my family off at the gates, rush to park, then run in to meet them. Whew! that was close, just made it. On the plane and off to the Islands.

Unfortunately, we never got to enjoy the vacation we had hoped for. My wife Amanda got sick and passed out on the plane ride over and had to be cleared my medics on our connecting flight from Oahu and spent the week between 2 different Kaiser clinics & in bed due to her illness (she has a lung disease called Cystic Fibrosis) and had difficulty breathing.

So, we finally make it to the big island and Hawaiian airlines has lost my grandfathers walker. I tried all afternoon trying to locate it and even attempted to rent one, but the place was closed. Finally, Amanda got a hold of someone that could help us and assured us the walker would be delivered on one of the next flights over and the front desk told us they would bring it to us when it got there.

Needless to say, we were all tired and needed to rest. I decided to go to the grocery store and cook dinner so we can be ready for a week of fun and relaxation. We finally laid down and went to bed, around midnight. I couldn't wait to enjoy this time with my family and show Papa the island, but before I woke, I heard some grumbling in the bathroom, it was 4 in the morning. I rushed in to see what was going on and Papa was on the floor. He had gotten up to go to the bathroom and slipped in his socks on the tile floor and broke his hip in 2 places!

He had a successful surgery that next day and he came out strong, like he always does, but had a few bad days since and is battling a bit of pneumonia. I reluctantly came home February 7th so we could bring Amanda to the Dr. and get back to work. Luckily my my uncle Bob had come over to surprise him so he and my mom have been there for Papa. Unfortunately, uncle Bob came home last week and now my mom is there all alone with him. As you can imagine the cost of all this is adding up. Mom is having to move from place to place to find the best deals to stay each week. Thankfully, uncle Bob left his rental car for mom to get around, but we are still not sure what each day holds in store.

We did finally get some good news in the that Papa was moved to a care facility to start physical therapy, in hopes to get him on his feet and ready to travel home where he can continue to get better. From what we are being told it could still be weeks or even months. The Dr. has said that he needs to be able to travel with only the help of one person, so I'm sure at this point that I or another family member are going to have to travel back to help. We have looked into getting a medical air transport as well, but they cost around $30-40K. Been racking our brains as to what to next. I just want him to get the care he needs & to get him home safely and comfortably.

Please send your thoughts and prayers and feel free to share with your family and friends. Donations of any would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you so much!

Get well soon Papa, we love you!