A Great Loss...

The day after I got back from Colorado, I received a very hard and shocking email letting me know that one of my best friends from high school, Josh Green, had unexpectedly passed away. Apparently he was out camping with our mutual friend Ryan Dean and their fiancees, and the altitude got to him. He's always had lung problems, having been born with a collapsed rib cage. Anyway, he started having really labored breathing and started coughing uncontrollably. Thankfully, Ryan was an Eagle Scout and is highly trained in outdoor survival, so he reacted quickly. He picked Josh up and carried him to the car and drove him down to a near by fire station where they put him into an emergency vehicle and rushed him to the emergency room. When he got there, he went into cardiac arrest. It took the doctors 35 minutes to revive him. By that time, he had been without oxygen to his brain for so long that he was completely brain dead. His body was unable to breathe on its own and there was no blood flow to the brain. So they kept him on a ventilator until they could find people to donate his organs to, and then his family had him taken off of the life support. I didn't hear how many people they were able to find, but the doctors said that he had the ability to save up to 5 lives because he had checked the "donor" box when he got his driver's license. He loved stories about super heroes, so I find comfort in the fact that he got to be a true hero to someone and will be forever remembered for that.

They had a memorial service and funeral for him that weekend (August 23rd and 24th). I really wish I could have been there, but having JUST returned from the Springs, I couldn't afford to fly back. So I helped spread the word to as many people as I could, and wrote his parents a letter offering my condolences. I can't even imagine what they're going through. As hard as it is to lose someone you love, it's got to be twice as hard since he was about to get married.

I won't go into all of my thoughts and feelings. It's still a bit too fresh to try to explain what his friendship meant. I will say that he was the first one to get me thinking about pursuing a career in film, so I have him to thank for that. He was one of the funniest, most creative, and best loved people I've ever met. I'll always remember him as he is in that picture up there - laughing and talking about his new favorite movie. RIP, Josh.