I never thought a little tick could take the life of someone I loved so much… There I was at my Grandpa’s death bed, there was zero chance of him being okay. The worst part was not being able to say goodbye and knowing i'll never get to hear his voice again.

It all started when my Grandpa the most loving old man I knew went on a mission trip with his church to build homes for people who were in need. While he was there him and a few others got a virus called rocky mountain fever. The virus is spread from ticks that were outside in this region. When they all got home they had flu like symptoms and just didn't feel good. My Grandpa was the oldest so he was doing the worst.
   

They all ended up in the hospital but all made a fast recovery. I never went to visit him because everyone said it wasn't a big deal and he was going to be fine and home soon. My Dad on the other hand would visit him and just kept him company every day that he was in the hospital. One night my Dad was with him pretty late watching the tigers game. The tigers have always been there thing that they did together, there wasn't a game that they didn't go to or watch together. But it was getting late so they said their goodbyes and my Dad went home. Little did they know that that would be their last conversation. Little did my Grandpa know that that would be his last conversation with someone.
   

That night he suffered a huge heart attack and his heart stopped for a couple minutes before they resuscitated him. We got the call that night I remembered thinking how weird it was that someone was calling that late. The doctors told us that he was still alive but not awake.
     

The next day I went to the hospital with my parents. As I walked down the hallway in the ICU I couldn't help but look into the windows of the other rooms. I saw sad eyes of family and friends. I saw people laying in bed they looked so lifeless it looked like a sad movie but sadly it wasn't a movie. I couldn't help but think is this what my Grandpa looks like? The one who went skydiving last year for his 80th birthday, the one who walked on the great wall of china, the one who I knew and loved. There was his room I saw people standing outside of it. People I didn't even know but they knew him. I walked into the room and then straight out…I said to my Mom,
    

“I can't do this please don't make me do this.”

I'm not strong enough to see him like this, all connected to tubes and machines, the machines were so loud it felt like they were screaming at me. I realized that I had to go in I was strong enough to do it it was going to be hard but I have to do it. If my family could do it I could do it. I walked in without looking at him and took a seat in the corner then finally looked up and looked at him. It was a blinding sight. Than the doctor came in and explained that he was in a comma and they were going to drop the temperature of his body really low than warm his body back up in hope this would reduce the damage to his brain.
   

So we sat there for hours, for days.  My Cousins would always try to lighten up the mood and make inappropriate jokes, but the adults got sick of it and someone told them “stop acting like a five year old.” In that time I learned a lot about my family lots of little things. This hard experience was so much easier with my family by my side and supporting each other.

Throughout this time so many people came to visit. I really hope that if it was me in the hospital that many people would care enough to visit me. I had so much time to think about everything millions of things raced through my head while I sat in that little room with my family. I thought about how different my life is going to be if he does die. My life is going to be so different and I don't like that. The question that kept going through my head was why do bad things happen to good people..?
    

As the days passed his chances of waking up decreases, we began to lose hope. Losing hope was a horrible thing I felt like I was giving up on him. The dreadful day finally came that we decided to take him off the ventilator. They told us to say our goodbyes but I couldn't do it. I wasn't strong enough to accept the fact that he was gone and just his body was here. The doctor told us that as after they unplugged him and took out all the tubes he would only live a few more minutes. So we sat there and waited for the heart monitor to beep like in the movies. Hours past and nothing seemed to change. He looked so peaceful just laying there. It was getting pretty late and everyone was very bored so we turned on the tv and the tigers game was on we couldn't help but smile. It was around 9 so me and my Mom ended up going home. As I walked down the hospital hall I knew this would be the last time I saw him alive. The entire way home I had a very odd and unpleasant feeling like something wasn't right but there was nothing left for me to do. Later that night he finally gave up but of course after the tigers game was over.
   

From this experience I learned how truly important family is, they are the ones who will be there for you on your worst days. You really don't know how much time you will be given with the people you love. I started to really appreciate my family and the people who loved me by doing the small things like giving them a call and just letting them know how much I love them. Even though this experience was one of the hardest things I had to go though I really realized how lucky I am to have the family I have.