Remarkable people

I'm feeling positive. Let's see if I can start a positive thread even in grievances. 

Inside every person you pass in the street their might be a remarkable person.   For the past two days, I've had the pleasure of the company of ((name omitted for privacy reasons)) who's looking after a database of research data concerned with Altzheimer's disease - apparently an area that's horribly underfunded (one hundredth of the funding of cancer research).  She's polite, curteous, but also strong willed and know where she wants to go - ready to listen to technical suggestions to help her get there.  Currently her data is held using a proprietory piece of software that's no longer supported properly, and is only accessible through her good services.  She's looking to to move the data to a medium / system where it will be available into the future, and will be more accessible to reasearchers when she's not around, at the same time protecting the privacy of the patients who's data forms the heart of the database.

Have you come across any such remarkable people?  Can we get this thread to several pages??

My sister is by far the most remarkable person I've met.

4 years ago it all came out that she had a nasty cocaine addiction. She embezzeled $16,000 to pay for it. She got caught but was lucky enough to get off by paying the money back. Just a few months ago she paid her last payment. In the last 4 years she's been totally clean and sober and has developed her own company. She's working as a wedding photographer but has hopes to becoming a fashion photographer. She's getting straight A's at university and just last week she moved into her very first apartment with her wonderful boyfriend.

For a 22 year old, she's had quite a hard life but if you met her you wouldn't know it. She's an amazing person and continues to make me proud every day.

Very inspiring stories.

My step mom is the most remarkable woman I know. She cared for my father every minute of the day/night for the last 15 years of his life as his liver and kidneys failed. During his illness he also developed a disease in his esophagus (sp?) and his blood was so thin if he banged his had even slightly he would bleed like crazy. Two months before his passing he even fell down the stairs and broke his shoulder. My stepmom was so wonderful. She converted her dining room into a make shift hospital room complete with hospital bed. She never asked for Hospice care. I forgot to mention by the way that during the entire time of my father's illness my stepmom was also caring for her mother who was living with them. Her mother had dementia and couldnt be left alone. Between the two of them my stepmom never had a moments peace. At the end of my fathers life my stepmoms mother got so bad she had to be put in a nursing home. She was 92 at that time. My father passed away 17 April 2002. My stepmom was devastated and to make matters worse her mother died in the nursing home the same year just two weeks before Christmas. I was so worried about my stepmom but she pulled herself out of her mass depression and actually got out and got a job. She never had to work outside of the home so this was her first job since before she and dad were married. She also started a fitness regime and lost a ton of weight. Last year she took her first ever flight and it was to Europe. She spent a month touring with her brother and his wife. She is so wonderful and well rounded. I only hope to have her strength someday.

That's a fantastic story Ricki. 

My dad is an amazing man.  Since my dad got his counseling degree he has been doing pro bono work with many people in his community (he works during the day as a school counselor in a private school and doesn't get paid very much).  In the evenings, he either gets paid nothing or at the most around $35 for an hour in a private practice.  In that area, you can get at least $80 for a session, but he wants to help those who can't afford it but need it.  There are many people who have come up to me to let me know how much my dad means to them.  In addition to this he is very much an advocate to giving to the world.  Back in 1997-8, he took a sabbatical year off from his job.  During this time he was only paid 1/3 of his salary.  During that year he moved overseas to India to work for nothing at a boarding school in the first tier of the Himalayan Mountains (though a missionary sort of project)...they had never had a counseling program and he went in to both train someone as well as just be there for the kids and staff.  A few years later he started a program at his school.  He takes a group of high school students to Malaway (can't spell it) in Africa.  It is one of the poorest nations of Africa and one with a HUGE concentration of AIDS patients and babies.  He and the kids work with a group that helps kids who have orphaned due to AIDS...either they have it themselves and/or their parents have died from AIDS.  He has helped build a school and brings over thousands of dollars of medical supplies each year through donations he basically begs for.  In all these trips, he has paid for his own flight and expenses, never taking anything from anyone else.  He just amazes me at his dedication to helping others.  I hope that I can be like him one day!

Folks, I'm humbled when I read that each and every one of you has chosen a remarkable close relative; you truely are an amazing group.  Onetiger, I too could have started "my dad is an amazing man ..." but in no way to compete, rather to describe him in very special but very different light ... actually, I think words might fail me for once as emotion welled up.  Sure, there are people out there who don't make a big impression but each person you pass on the street may have an amazing story to tell - of dedication, of love, of courage, of giving, of working for others, of overcoming adversity.  As Louis Armstrong sang "what a wonderful world"

What a fantastic topic Graham - you're a real star. Thank you everyone for sharing your stories!

I'd say my best friend at work. She has recently just gone through her mom's second bout of colon cancer. She is an only child and her Dad is a bit of a workaholic, so she does a lot of the driving and taking her mom here and there. She has gone through it all with a smile everyday and listens to my mundane problems all the while I know she's hurting b/c she doesn't know if her mom can fight it off for a second time. She always has an ear for anyone seeking comfort and truly is a best friend. Thankfully, her mom just got some tests back and the chemo has worked! She goes back for testing in a few months. I still remember calling my mom the day my friend found out her mom had cancer again. I cried b/c my mom went through that at a young age with her mom. My mom told me to just be there for her and that's all I could do. Well, even when I move I plan on being there for her as much as possible. There are few ppl in your life that can touch you so much, but her strength and ability to give and listen despite her own tragedy amazes me.

Don't have anything to add at the moment, but I wanted to say that this thread is humbling and inspiring as well as offering a much-needed dose of perspective.

Thank you all for sharing your stories of these remarkable people.

My Grandma on my dad's side is hands down the most incredible person I know. She is the most giving person, one of those people who truly would give you the shirt off her back if she thought you needed it. She just turned 83 and is slowing down a little but is still very active and involved in work, church and helping friends and family with anything and everything. I am so grateful for having her as a role model since she basically raised my sister and I. Now I am trying to give back as much as I can to her as I see her needing a little more help. She is my inspiration and I would love to be half the women she is when I grow up 

I, too, am moved by these stories of close relatives, and I have my own to share.  While I could write of my truly amazing grandparents (on my mother's side) and their awesome love and devotion for each other, I have chosen to write of my mother.  My mother is the most artistically talented person I have ever known.  She played (piano/organ) for her first church service when she was 4 years old.  She is an accomplished musician, vocalist, artist (in painting and sculpture), and author; having written and published (contracted published, not vanity publishing) five books.

A few years ago, she had an accident that has left her legally blind.  As you would suspect, that's quite a blow to a person who has always used her eyesight in her work.  But, my mother hasn't let her sight loss stop her.  She said, "My hands still know the strokes (of a paint brush) and how to sculpt."  And so, she has continued right along making and selling her still beautiful creations.  And, although wholly trained and with a degree in music (she was a double major: psychology and music), and completely musically literate, she has never had to depend on written music to play, prefering to interpret the music emotionally to suit the moment - and so, her blindness has not stopped her music.  As she told (so eloquently) at my grandfather's memorial service, he insisted that she learn to play in the dark years before when, during the war (WW2), they lived in Boston and there were the blackouts.  Pop (as we called him) never used notes when he preached, and so, when the lights would go out he continued right along preaching just as if nothing had happened.  He required mother do the same thing when she played, so that the service was never interupted.  She is now, once again, in the dark, but the music has not been interupted.

Thank you, so much, for this great idea for a thread, Graham.  I had come over to the grievances to complain about something, but this thread made me stop for a moment, count my blessings, and be inspired.  Again, thank you.

~Autumn

This thread is really great! You're guys' stories are very inspiring indeed I thought I would share mine.

My mother is definitely one of the most remarkable women I have ever known. At 15, she was raped and my older half-brother (now 21) was born a month before her 16th birthday.  She married my father and I was born a month after she turned 17.  She then had my sister when she was 19, and divorced my father when I was 2 1/2.  I only know this because I was told.  She married my stepfather when I was around 4 - I am a bit hazy on the dates but I will do my best - and my 2nd sister was born when I was 4, I think right before they got married.  My mother then proceeded to have 4 more children - when I was 6, 8, 10.. and then again when I was 14. So I'm the 2nd oldest of 8 children - and my mother is only 38.  Now before I write the next part, I have to say that this is a very bad part of my childhood so its difficult to write about, but it will make you understand why she is such an amazing woman.

My mother was very abusive... for years on end.  She stopped when I was 14, after she was taken to see a Psych after trying to commit suicide.  She was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder a few months afterward and has been on treatment ever since.  Because of the disorder, she would go on spending sprees and disappear for MONTHS on end when she was having a high and would only return home when the mania finally went away.  My stepfather and she lost the house we were living in for 6 years when the mortgage had gone unpaid for so long and my stepdad didnt know that my mother was blowing money - he only knew that she left for weeks on end.  So we moved when I was in the 9th grade, and proceeded to move 4 times after that.  I moved out when I was 17.  During this, she was being treated and she no longer left and went places, she was at home or working.  She has recently moved to a new city.

You might be asking why I think my mother is a remarkable person. Well, I guess in a way, she has done everything possible for her children.  She did have a job as an Assistant Manager at TWO Arby's but quit because she moved.  Even though she is still now looking for a job, she has turned her life around in so many ways.  And, after I have messed up so many times in my life, she still helps me out even though she is strapped herself at moments. Mostly I think she's remarkable because she's still here, 21 years and 8 children later, moving on with her life and trying to make things better for my younger sisters - and giving them things she couldnt give to her oldest 3 children when she was younger.  She has overcome her sickness and I am extremely proud of her. 

I would like to nominate the Burmese activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has just celebrated her 60th birthday after 10 years house arrest.

Ms Suu Kyi's late husband, the British lecturer Michael Aris, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997. The Burmese government denied him an entry visa and Ms Suu Kyi remained in Burma, not meeting him again before he died in 1999. She continues to be separated from their children in the UK.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/burma/story/0,13373,1508121,00.html

I have to say my uncle is an amazing man and my family is so very grateful for him.

About 16 years ago my grandfather passed away from a massive heart attack.  Uncle quit his job to stay home with my grandmother.  Not that she needed it at the time, but he didn't want her to be alone as she lives in a really crummy and scary area in Detroit.  Over the years her health has gone down hill (she is now in her late 80's).  She has broken her hip, is in a wheel chair, will hardly eat, and has dementia.  He lives with her still, and will not leave her side, only for a short trip to go to the store when needed (thank God for the Internet, he buys what he needs and has it delivered).  He bathes her, feeds her, entertains her.  He has totally given up his life to take care of his mother.  He has not had a personal relationship in over 20 years.  He is in his 50's, who knows if he will ever have a family at this point.  His sacrafice is something he never talks about, never questions, and never asks for help.  He won't let anyone else take care of her, even when we try to offer help.  If if were not for my uncle she would have been in a nursing home long ago, or perhaps dead now from the broken hip.  The sacrafices people make are amazing to me.  I don't know if I would have the strength of will to do what he does.  I can only learn from his example.

~Liza

Liza, your uncle sounds like a truly selfless person.  They are, indeed, rare. Thanks for sharing him with us.