Joe

Below is a picture of my team member Joe who is sporting a stocking cap that I made for him. It's hard to see the detail in the stripes but they are navy and brown:




Joe rolled off my project this week - I will miss him greatly. He was only on my project for a few weeks but he added a huge amount of entertainment and humor. On a serious side, we witnessed an elderly woman fall down a flight of stairs last week and he sat with her, talked to her and comforted her until the ambulance came. I have a huge amount of respect for Joe and know deep down he's a great guy to the core.

Joe is a leukemia survivor. He had a bone marrow transplant 6 years ago. He was only given a 30% chance of survival. Joe was my age when diagnosed. I couldn't fathom going through radiation treatment, chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant nonetheless to be given only a 30% chance of survival.

Joe played football for ASU and USC - he's very athletic, very driven and very talented. Throughout a few meals together Joe told me of how he had to learn how to walk again, how he spent 6 agonizing months in the hospital and just how thankful he is to be alive.

When Joe was diagnosed with leukemia he sold his possessions and started a non profit organization for bone marrow testing. It was through one of his bone marrow drives he found a donor. From the time he was diagnosed he was given 3 years to live. He found his donor 2 years and 8 months after being diagnosed.

I have the pleasure of working with many individuals, it is the nature of my industry. Throughout my years I hold a very select amount of coworkers near and dear to me, Joe is now on that short list of individuals. He is someone I will be friends with for life and someone I will always respect.