I lost my brother yesterday. Kerm had Kennedy’s Disease, yet, he was one of the most positive people I have ever known. I don’t believe I ever heard him have a negative comment about living with this condition. And, that is saying a lot for someone who lived for 78 years.In a family of ten children (seven boys and three girls), three were born with Kennedy’s Disease. Two of the three with the defect have now passed.
This last year was tough on Kerm. He came down with the flu a year ago January and it weakened him considerably. He recovered somewhat, but not fully. Even near the end when he could no longer dress himself and most food was almost impossible to swallow, he accepted it as just another day in the life of living with the disease. He never complained about something he could do anything about.
Kerm exercised almost every day. Whenever we were together, he would show me his latest exercises and how well off he was ‘at his age’. Whenever we talked, he always encouraged me by word and deed that living with Kennedy’s Disease was ‘mind over matter’. Kerm was just not a brother, he was a friend and also a role model in many ways.
Kerm will be missed, but, more importantly, he will be remembered.
