Courage is selfless. My father-in-law was faced with a very difficult situation. His wife, who'd been fighting Parkinson’s disease for 16 years, was hospitalized when her medication stopped working. During that time, he was laid off. After three months, the doctors told him that they couldn't do anything more for his wife. She was in a permanent catatonic state. Immobile, unable to walk and communicate, she would have to be placed in a home.

Even with his career in jeopardy, he took her home. He set up a hospital bed on the main floor, set up a schedule with great nurses because care had to be given around the clock. He ended up finding another job. He set up interviews quickly to make sure that she was well cared for while he was at work.

With Parkinson's, the medication had to be administered around the clock. Any variation would disrupt any potential 'window' that she might have for days. He would come home from work, take over from the nurses, care for her until 1:00 a.m., administer her medication, and then go to sleep. He'd wake up at 3:00 a.m. to give her another dose, sleep again until 5:00 a.m., give her another dose, and then start his day. When exhaustion began to over, he would sleep on the linoleum kitchen floor to ensure that he didn ’t sleep though the schedule and miss any doses.  After seven years, a lot of great help from others, my mother-in-law was able to walk again. A real miracle as Parkinson's is degenerative.

During all this, he also had to face his own cancer. Not once did he complain or get down on himself. It wasn't an option. He kept doing everything he could to make her life as comfortable as possible.

He did all of this without a thought to himself. He never complained. He's a real hero in our eyes.

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