October 7, 2001

Not a great memory here at Camp Clifford.

I had a cold that day, and so did Jake. His cold actually saved his life because he could barely speak and went to the MAC center to get an antibiotic.

That’s where they found the huge mass on his chest.

I went to a Bills game that day...

...last Bills game I’ve attended. They beat the Jets. I had telephone messages that nearly stopped my heart.

I you want to remember the rest, read ‘Counting On A Miracle.’

Blows my mind that it was 17 years ago.

“Know where I was 17 gears ago?” I asked Jake.

He shrugged.

“Trying to get into Toys R Us to get the new Scooby-Doo,” I said. “They let me in after closing and I brought it to you at the hospital.”

“Whatever,” Jake said.

He certainly doesn’t want to discuss it.

Yet, it’s hard to not revisit.

Kathy and I talked about that day. M

Our fears, our anger with the misdiagnosis, and the doctors who saved him.

“How’d the A’s do?” I asked Jake as he passed me in the hall.

“Don’t make me root for the Red Sox,” he said. “I actually hate them.”

“17 years ago this week Jeter made the flip play to beat the A’s.”

Jake laughed.

And what took a backseat to the relief that Jake has been tremendously healthy all these years is how quickly time goes by.

“We got lucky,” I said, as we returned from our trip to ‘01.

“Yeah we did.”

The talk of Scooby sent Kathy reeling though.

“I missed when they were young. Remember when they were ‘Hee-Hee and Haw-Haw’?”

“They make it back there every once in awhile,” I said.

And they do.

We watched the Yankees-Red Sux with them sitting side-by-side, eating chicken fingers an hour after they ate.

It’s been a fun 17 years.


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