A couple of weeks ago, one of the nicest men in the world passed out at work at one of our other stores. His airway was blocked by cartilege (sp?) build-up in his trachea. Anyway, so he made arrangements to have it removed. He called me and asked if I would fill in for him at his store and I said of course, we would definately get his store covered.
He went in to the hospital, had the surgery which was 12 hours. He was in recovery for about a week and expected to come home yesterday. I have been working this week in his store and we called to check on him, he was in good spirits and doing well. Our owner and other co-workers were calling him everyday as well.
Friday night, he had a coughing spasm and ruptured something in his throat. He choked on his own blood and died on Friday night. He left 4 children behind and a wife. Two little kids....... little. Yesterday, all the men were moping, the wormen crying and it was an awful day trying to get on with the job and yet know that this was all so fleeting. The owner of the company (and this is a multi-million dollar company) showed up around 10:30 and stayed with us all day. He answered phones and talked to customers. He cried with us, he worked with us.
I couldn't even listen to the woman who was telling people that 'when it's your time to go, it's your time.' He left a handicapped older son, a 20 year old daughter in college and 2 little kids: 6 and 9. It was not his time and according to one of our customers, a surgeon, this death was completely preventable.