Thoughts and Prayers...

I found out through e-mail this past week that my friend and brother Chris Piccardo is doing worse. If you don't know who I'm talking about, I wrote about him here.

At the time I wrote that piece, it did not look good for Chris. However, he has fought on, remained strong, and had been doing rather well over the past many months.

Unfortunately, this has apparently changed. This is how my mom described seeing him recently in her e-mail: "I saw Chris twice in the last week, both times at church. It had been 4 weeks since I had seen him. There is quite a change. Chris is having trouble walking. His parents help him at all times. He seemed somewhat unaware of where he was, kind of in a fog. But I will say that he recognized me and acknowledged me both times."

This is a big change from even when I last saw him 2 weeks ago. He had been going to class and didn't look any worse than before. Needless to say this news hit me pretty hard. I mean, I knew he was sick, but that's a big change from when I last saw him.

His mom seems to agree with my mom's assessment as well. Here's a exerpt from an e-mail she sent my mom: "It has been a tough week here. Christopher has been very off since Monday. He is more confused and we have been having to help him eat. Even though, he still shows signs of the usual " Christopher" stubborness. These are the times I look at his high school graduation picture and wonder if we will ever get "our Chris" back."

At this point, I don't even know what to say. I'm usually fairly good with words, but even I can't describe what this is doing to me. And if it is doing this much to me, imagine what it is doing to his family. I talked to Tony the other day, and he seemed pretty down. He's been the one person in the family who, while I'm sure seeing his brother like this hurt him, had kept his emotions in check and stayed upbeat. To see him down like that tells me its pretty serious.

I guess I want to ask for your thoughts and prayers (for the religious among you). Not for me, I don't deserve them in this situation, but for Chris and even moreso his family. For Chris, that he is comfortable and isn't in any pain. And for his family that they will be able to cope with everything. He had an MRI today, but I have yet to hear the results (although I can probably guess...). I just hope that the family has the strength to cope with whatever they heard and with things as they are getting tougher on them. This is a great family, a family I consider to be my own second family. The fact they have to go through this kills me as much as seeing Chris go through this does. It's going to be tough times ahead, and any "spiritual" help the family can get I'm sure will help.