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I can honestly say, tonight my heart hurts. I was in bed, loaded up on ambien so I would sleep until 3 am when I have to get on the road and I was woken by the wife of one of my dear friends letting me know he had passed this morning. Let me tell you about Mark Ketcham.
Mark was unable to serve in Vietnam so he signed up to go there as a civilian, serving the soldiers in Vietnam. From then on, always feeling left out, he spent the rest of his life going from group of veteran to group of veteran, caring for them helping them find counseling, jobs, whatever they needed to get back on their feet. He helped soldiers find rent money if they came up short, tinted teh windows on my truck so I could go back to school and faced the VA and school to ensure my GI bill was squared away more than once.
The man worked tirelessly and was one of those people who had a genuine love for soldiers and their families. The amount of troop's lives he touched, made better, can never be counted in full as the man was so special to so many he became family. I made him an honorary grandfather of my son the day he was born because he drove from Dallas to Paris to be there for the event and was there at both birthdays.
A few weeks ago, he got sick and wound up in the hospital for a galbladder that had gotten infected. Docs said that if they tried to remove it, they'd have to cut most of his other organs as well because it had turned to gel around everything. Well they stabilized him, and sent him home to get better because in 4 weeks he was going back in and having that galbladder removed.
Tonight, I get the call that he passed this morning. His wife (who also has a severe TBI) told us that he had died and she was sorry for calling so late......I feel l ike I've lost another battle buddy and it's killing me inside. It hurts. Damn it hurts. I just spoke to him a couple of days ago and he was drugged but very happy and positive and wanting to get back on the job because there were people who needed him. Always people who needed him.
Today, the world lost a tireless man, someone who served soldiers of every branch with equal fevor and was willing to miss sleep, family functions and put himself on the line to ensure the soldier was getting help. Rest in piece my friend. You've gone one but we will see another one day. Stands Alone!
Mark was unable to serve in Vietnam so he signed up to go there as a civilian, serving the soldiers in Vietnam. From then on, always feeling left out, he spent the rest of his life going from group of veteran to group of veteran, caring for them helping them find counseling, jobs, whatever they needed to get back on their feet. He helped soldiers find rent money if they came up short, tinted teh windows on my truck so I could go back to school and faced the VA and school to ensure my GI bill was squared away more than once.
The man worked tirelessly and was one of those people who had a genuine love for soldiers and their families. The amount of troop's lives he touched, made better, can never be counted in full as the man was so special to so many he became family. I made him an honorary grandfather of my son the day he was born because he drove from Dallas to Paris to be there for the event and was there at both birthdays.
A few weeks ago, he got sick and wound up in the hospital for a galbladder that had gotten infected. Docs said that if they tried to remove it, they'd have to cut most of his other organs as well because it had turned to gel around everything. Well they stabilized him, and sent him home to get better because in 4 weeks he was going back in and having that galbladder removed.
Tonight, I get the call that he passed this morning. His wife (who also has a severe TBI) told us that he had died and she was sorry for calling so late......I feel l ike I've lost another battle buddy and it's killing me inside. It hurts. Damn it hurts. I just spoke to him a couple of days ago and he was drugged but very happy and positive and wanting to get back on the job because there were people who needed him. Always people who needed him.
Today, the world lost a tireless man, someone who served soldiers of every branch with equal fevor and was willing to miss sleep, family functions and put himself on the line to ensure the soldier was getting help. Rest in piece my friend. You've gone one but we will see another one day. Stands Alone!
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