CLASS NOTES have only two choices: to starve or to suffocate. Some ALS patients choose to have a stomach tube in order to sustain them when they can no longer eat. Very few patients also choose to be placed on a ventilator in order to avoid suffocation. Ventilation is extremely expensive, and requires 24-hour care; most families simply can’t handle or afford that. We have some very tough choices ahead of us. “At his doctor’s appointment in February, it was recommended that Tony get a stomach tube within the next three months. He had the surgery at the beginning of March. It can be used to give him his medicine and to supplement his caloric intake when he is too tired to eat. Eventually, it can be used to give him all his needed food. A breathing test revealed that Tony’s lungs have 50 percent of
the capacity that they should. That measurement gives him a conservative prognosis of 12 to18 more months to live. “Needless to say, we never expected this to happen to us. I know that no one does. Nothing can prepare you for this, and the challenges are endless. We have waded through Social Security Disability paperwork, applying for Medicare, finding a van converted for a wheelchair, long-term disability insurance, fundraising challenges and the infinite changes this has brought to our daily lives. It is difficult to express the weight this places on your shoulders. One of our biggest goals is to spread awareness of ALS and its challenges and to help other people who struggle with terminal illness. Hopefully that attention will bring with it funds and pressure to find a cure. “To follow us in our journey with ALS, check out Tony’s blog at dontshrink.com.” Thanks to all. If I don’t have you on my class distribution list, please send me an email and I will add you. Brandon
’02
Salmaan Khawaja
9225 Upshur Dr. Richmond, VA 23236 804/687-7122 salmaan.khawaja@gmail.com
Class of 2001: Tony Conway, center, with former VMI soccer coach Stephen Ross ’83, right, and current coach Richie Rose.
Brother Rats, I hope that this edition of the Alumni Review finds you and yours doing well! Summer is right around the corner as I write these notes, and (thankfully) this time around, I have some more information and news to pass along. I’ll nag you some more at the end of the notes. Dr. Marc Yelle and Ronald Hull recently ran in the Boston Marathon in honor of Dic Donohue and the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing
Class of 2001: At the 2014 Conway Cup were Justin Harber, Jack Hagel, Jason Whitaker, John Koubaroulis, Chris Simpson, Jim Bourie, Landon Winklevoss ’04, Tony Conway, Redda Chebba (not a VMI alumnus), Fred Hair, Hassan Grari, Brian Wright and Jon Mazur.
2014- Issue 3
Class of 2002: Kai Khawaja received this unique, handmade VMI teddy bear commissioned by Jason Breeding. last year. Thank you both for your fundraising efforts and raising awareness. Henry Papiano wrote in to let me know that his father was fortunate enough to sell his company, which took Henry on, giving him the wonderful opportunity to continue to run the family business. Henry manages 300 employees and recently survived a merger with a much larger company named Crestwood. Things are looking great for Henry, his wife and children (two sons and a daughter). Henry still keeps in touch with Jed Pusczykowski on a regular basis. Jed is doing great and is working on custom cars for a very reputable dealership. Tim Tendall, a weapons systems officer in the U.S. Air Force, got married to Ms. Delores Martinez. I’m still awaiting pictures and will post them in the next edition of the Review. I admit shameless self-promotion and had to include with these notes a picture of Kai with a VMI Keydet doll commissioned by Jason Breeding. Scooter and wife Elisa Baber welcomed their son, Andrew Joseph, to the world May 4, 2014. Andrew was born healthy and weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces. Congrats, Scooter and Elisa! I hope all of you are doing well, and I wish you the very best for the rest of 2014. I know many of us follow one another on Facebook and otherwise, and my BRs have been engaged in making babies, getting married, general mischief and lots of other great things as well. Please take some time to drop me a line and a photo with your updates, when you can, if you’d like them posted in the Review. ’02! ’02! ’02! In the spirit, Salmaan
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