Journal entry by Angela Duckart —
Before we leave this service, I felt it important to share 4 lessons from John.
#1 Patience. During his last 19 days, John’s patience was admirable. Instead of being angry (which I’m sure he still was and unlike all of us) he always said things like “the results will come if we remain patient and then we can take action.” He tolerated adjustments to pain management because he believed the pain would go away. He simply knew energy was wasted on things you can’t control, and you moved forward faster if you were just patient.
#2 Gratitude. There were many amazing medical staff involved in John’s care, but no matter who you were at the hospital he always said thank you…from the phlebotomist to poked him for the millionth time to the cleaning staff taking the garbage out of the room. Everyone who did something for him or to him was thanked.
#3 Strength. The day we found out he had cancer, I lost my mind and broke down. John on the other hand never wavered. He held me and told me all would be ok. Eventually, as things got worse, he said, “it’s not so scary” and continued fighting to the very end. He never gave up.
#4 Love. 24 hours before I knew it would be his last breath, he told me “I love you more than you know.” I think, in turn, we would certainly be able to say to him that we love him more than he could ever know because of all the people in this room and support my family has received over these last few weeks.
Because of patience, gratitude, strength and love I can stand here and tell you I loved John with all my being and will continue to focus on those 4 lessons moving forward. So I will start by saying thank you for being here and celebrating John with me and invite you over to the St. Rita School gym for some memorable conversation and really good eats.
Additionally, as most of you already are very familiar with, John loved comics and superheroes...enough so that he truly requested a superhero funeral. In our best attempt to honor John and keep his spirit alive, I leave you with a Spiderman quote “with great power comes great responsibility.” There is a superhero in all of us, so start where John left off.
Thank you to all to joined us on Saturday and celebrated John's amazing life. He will be terribly missed and thought of often. <3
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