Happy Birthday John!

I wanted to write this in honor of my friend John Roach’s birthday. He is 52 years young today!

John is a fellow RSD patient who also had the Ketamine Coma here in Monterrey.

Up until 9 years ago, John was a very active man. He volunteered as a fireman and worked at a very physically demanding job at a utility company. That is, he had an injury that changed everything and he developed RSD.

Before RSD John also loved singing. He persued his wife, Rosemary, by singing outside her bedroom window until she agreed to go out with him. He promised her that if she would marry him, he would sing to her everyday for the rest of their lives.

When I met John at the hospital here last April, even laughing was not possible for him. Any type of activity at all that required the use of the muscles in his neck caused him severe pain flare ups in his neck, shoulder, arm and hand.

Needless to say, singing was out of the question...

Rosemary has referred to the day of John’s injury as “The day the music died” in their household.

The suffering that this disease causes, and the things that you lose because of it, never cease to amaze me. But how special people can come into your life through this pain, continually amazes me as well. John and Rosemary have become part of our extensive extended family we have accumulated here in Mexico and we’re blessed to know them.

On Wednesday morning before my surgery, I got a special call via skype. It was John. He said that he had a surprise for me—he was going to sing to me!

I had the honor of being the first ‘concert’ that he has performed in years!

He sang “You’ve Got A Friend”by Carole King.

.”…You just call out my name

And you know wherever I am

I'll come running to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I'll be there
You've got a friend…”

John serenading me via skype

Wow. I am not a very emotional person. However, I was crying. He has a beautiful voice. But I think I was crying even more over the fact that this gift, which is definitely a God-given talent, has been restored to him once again.

Singing is filling John and Rosemary’s home again. I am so thankful to see how far he too has come in his recovery after his treatment here.

John, if I had ANY singing talent whatsoever, you know I would be calling you this morning to sing to you, but, I think it is safer for both of us that I do this with words instead. :)

Happy Birthday!

Thank you for being my friend.

Love. Jessica