The Costco Guy

 My husband was the strongest guy I knew (physically and it turned out mentally also). He could scale our wall and hoist himself onto the sofit on the second floor with his fingertips. In 2011 we rode our bikes downtown to watch the Fourth of July parade (in 108 degree heat). Round trip it was probably 16 miles. Then we rode another 6 miles to San Ramon Central Park to watch the fireworks. My husband, Arlie, was limping as we walked our bikes across the field, his face was red and blotchy. "Your limping" I told him. I've been told I have a knack for pointing out the obvious. I was waiting for him to tell me he twisted his ankle or something--whatever it was that injured his foot. Instead he just barked back, "I know!" It was so strange so I didn't bother him anymore. After a couple hours with the sun starting to set, he cooled down and his leg was working again. He asked me if we should go home, and I said yes. This would be the first year we didn't watch the fireworks. This was also the first year that Yosemite required permits to hike Half Dome-something we also did every year. I was able to get the permits which was a miracle. They were for September. We never went. He was diagnosed with MS in August. My sister, whose daughter had just become a neurologist told me I had to take him to a neurologist when I shared what a weird fourth of July we'd had. About a year later, my husband saw one of the leading minds in MS who diagnosed him with Primary Progressive MS. He slowly lost use of his right leg and hand (then arm). He was right handed so he had to learn to do everything with his left hand. But he started having numbness in his left hand too which got him wondering how long it would be before his left side followed in his right side's footsteps. He also was a man's man and insisted on doing all physical things around the house requiring strength--man jobs. It killed him watching me struggling with jobs he wanted to do to begin with. Although he handled the diagnosis amazingly well, he did become depressed and didn't share his thought with me. I need to mention that his mother died of complications from MS when he was 19. As a child he had to go live with his dad and alcoholic step mom (which he equated to being a POW) while his mother was institutionalized because his grandparents could no longer handle caring for her, and the little hellian he was becoming(in his words). You know what snapped him out of his depression? October, 2014 he was diagnosed with terminal cancer with a life expectancy of 2.5 years. And he remained happy about that. I wasn't--but he was. I'm afraid to say that on any site centered around MS. It truly is not that he wanted to die--he didn't! In fact, he became convinced that he really wasn't dying (and was happy about that). When he was diagnosed with cancer the community rallied and presented us with a beach vacation and the news cameras were there. If you google The Costco Guy you'll see the story. The story went viral and as a result, his dream came true which was to be the number one fundraiser for children's hospital. After people saw the story they were coming into Costco practically throwing money at him. He said he needed a pole up there at the front door. He worked for Costco for 24 years, and they gave him the job as the greeter as the MS progressed because he still wanted to work even though he could have gone on disability. The last three years of his life we were on a new, different adventure and he went out with a bang (the bang being the number one Costco Fundraiser for Children's Hospital).