March 9. 2019

Friom his sister Kathy Corvo:

We need a standing “O!”

Hi everyone. I wanted to take a minute on behalf of my brother Chris and the rest of my family to say thank you to some special guys. I know most of these guys. They have been my brother’s friends since we were all very young. I’d say these guys (for the most part) have been best buddies since about 7th grade. I can only say as the younger sister that was fine by me. Imagine all of these guys hanging out at my house, shirtless , swimming in our pool. Good times.

Anyway as many of you know by now my brother Chris has the same lung disease that our parents both had. It’s called Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. No idea why our family is getting this. So Chris needs a lung transplant. It’s the only cure. Naturally breathing is hard and when that happens you realize how much oxygen creates energy in your body to do normal daily stuff like take a shower (without falling), cook a meal, get dressed, put on shoes, etc. You learn how much you take for granted every day.

Well I hadn’t seen Chris in a while myself because I live in another city. I saw him in November when another family member took sick, but Chris looked great. Shortly thereafter things went downhill fast and he needed oxygen 100% of the time. As we grew increasingly worried about Chris living alone there was nothing the rest of us could do from far away. He has a girlfriend Corina, God bless her, who comes and takes care of him, but lives in Vegas. So as things have escalated we knew it was getting tougher.

Personally I got worried after not hearing from my brother even via text. I called around to family and the sisters spoke and were concerned. Next thing I know my phone starts pinging with about 20 paragraphs of text from Chris (he didn't know I was just about to call the cops to do a wellness check). He had done what he didn’t want to do. He had called his old buddies for help. He called them. He reached out and the next day Jim Cesena, Mark Bray, Kevin Wiggins, Dale Curtis, Kenny B. and Mike Van Slyke showed up for breakfast and heard Chris out. My brother told me he didn’t get lectures about "why didn’t you ask sooner?" "we’ve been trying to help you," he didn’t get unsolicited advice. What he got brought tears of joy to my eyes (and his) I have to confess. He got love. Those guys (each with their own responsibilities, families, life trials and jobs) set up a schedule to call him once or twice a day. One person will help him get to doctor’s appointments. One will just get him out of the house a couple times a week to perk up his spirits, one is having his house cleaned twice a month at no charge, one has already installed handicapped handles in the shower and done his laundry. Each got a key with the understanding they will barge in if he falls off the radar. Two have already looked at his flooding patio to see what they can do to stop that (by eating out there he increases the size of his studio and the landlord won’t fix the flooding). This weekend Mike is going to install some stuff to help stop the flooding.

I think the specific task each one is doing is less important than the love they are showing their friend. I tried to tell Chris that I hope he realizes this speaks as much to his character as it does to theirs. Honestly I’m just overcome with emotion: relief, joy, happiness and want to hug each one of these guys myself.

It is hard to ask for help. It is. And often people let us down. Not with these guys. Not at all. If you know them please shake their hand for me (for all of us) or better yet hug them. Genuine love and friendship , whether for 40 years or 6 years, has brought life back where pain and loneliness tried to steal it. From the bottom of my (our) heart I thank all of these guys and , honestly, my brother for asking for help. Most of all I thank God for hearing so many prayers. I love all of you guys. I love you Chris. You know Chris, I hope I don’t get IPF I’m not going to lie. But I do hope I find friends like yours. - Kathy