DKP FOUNDER GARY MICHAEL HUGGINS

[johnl]

I just received a call from my almost 93 year old Mother (November 06, 1918) and she had a call from our longtime friend and my second dad Fred Huggins, Gary Michael's dad.  I've now spoken to Fred and Mike and have some more info but I thought I'd pass along the actual e-mail that was sent to Pete Dayton (co-DKP Founder), Don McKay, Dwight Magill, original DKP guys and myself.

I might mention that Fred is either 86 or 87 years old now and does pretty well, but doesn't need all of this.  So with that said I'd ask all of you to keep the Huggins family in your thoughts and prayers.  Mike Huggins although never really well known to most of you has done much for our hobby in just the fact he had the vision to come up with the DKP idea many years ago.

Last, Liane is Mike's X and Kaycie is their only child.  Here is the e-mail:


 
 


PLEASE NOTE;  This email is basically written for "my boys" but many others of you have been added just to keep you abreast of what is going on.
 
----------------
 
 
 
First of all, I want you guys to know that I had strict orders not to contact any of you or let you know what was going on.  He knew that you would start keeping the lines hot and since you are all basically foot loose, he felt you might hop in the car and start this way.  So, please don't jump on old Dad because I felt I should call you and I have promised each of you iin the past that I would keep you aware of what was going on.  So, I tried to let you know but he would have a fit every time I mentioned it.
 
 
 
So, I'll give you the story as best I can relate it.
 
 
 
Michael called me about 2 p.m. last Friday. This is the way the conversation started.
 
 
 
M - Hi Dad
 
F. Hi, son, what's up.
 
M. Dad, I need you.
 
F. Okay what do you need.
 
M. Dad I R EALLY REALLY d need you.
 
F. Okay, what. (by then I was getting a little anxious as this conversation didn't sound very interesting.
 
Fm.  I want you to go get my car and take it home.
 
F.  Okay, where is it?
 
M.  I don't know.
 
F.  You don't know, where are you?
 
M.  I don't know but I'm in a bed and i have blood all over me.
 
F.  Are you in a hospital?
 
M.  I think so
 
F   Which one?
 
M.  I don't know.
 
F.  If you are in a hospital, yell for anurse and one will come.
 
 
 
And so he did.
 
The nurse told me he was in University Medical center trauma center which is way up to the north part of Tucson.
 
 
 
Karen and I hopped in the car and headed that way.  Neither of us knew where it was and we got lost in the Friday afternoon shift trafffic and it took us over 1 1/2 hours to get there.
 
 
 
The upshot of everything was after we spent several hours with him trying to find out anything was that he had been to Costco, he remembered putting his groceries in the car trunk and that was all.  The paramedics had told the hospital that they found him lying blood iln the parking lot.
 
 
 
We got over to  Costco and picked up his car and back to the hospital
 
 
 
He was having a very difficult time communicating.  His words just wouldn't come and he would start a sentence and couldn't finish it.  And, as far as we can determine, he just flipped out in the parking lot and cut his head when he fell.  On the back of his head he has an "LL" shaped cut, with each"arm" about an inch long.  It  is not a big cut but, of course, with head trauma you bleed a lot.  And, when he fell, he fell backwards which is indicative of a stroke
 
 
 
They have checked him for everything and I think he is really doing good.  We brought him home last night.  He was still having a problem communicating completly and he is very unsteady on his feet.  I was going to bring him home with me but Kaycie and LIANE, yeah, Liane', showed up last night so I let them take care of him.  I really needed some rest as I have been making the trip up there sometimes twice a day and it is 30 miles one way right through the worst traffic in town.
 
 
 
Well, and since I have you guys on the line, I don't want any gruff from any of you but I also have had a little problem.  I went to the eye doctor three weeks ago because I was having a little vision problem in my right eye.  He thought I might have had some TIA' (mini strokes)_ and sent me to my primary care guy.  he ran a CT scan and then sent me to a heart specialist.  He was concerned of possibility of blood clots somewhere so I ended up in the hospital for a day when they did a transesophageal echocardiograpyh (TEE - just thought I would impress you with my big words.).  To do that, they go down your thorat and behind you heart and look for clots.
 
 
 
Saw him Friday morning (a few hours before Mike's thing) and everything is great.  I have no indication of clots but they did put me on .blood thinner jsut in case because of my age. He said I was in superb condition for anyone my age.
 
 
 
So, there you have it guys.  I would suggest that you don't make any calls today.  Liane and Kaycie are going home tomorrow so you might wait until later in the day.  I thought he might have to have someone stay with him for awhile but he has bounced back beautifully.  I feel he is going to be okay and he sees his VA doctor next week so I'm going with him and listen to what he has to say to the doctor and he better tell it all.  He has a tendency to skip over pertinent stuff.
 
 
 
Love you guys and keep him in your prayers.  He is in good shape but he still is not out of the words.  They did rule out a stroke and I still think it is his problems caused by Parkinsons.  But I did get a shock when I called the VA to clancel and appointment he had last Friday.  The first gal told me it was to have a pacemaker installed and then I talked to the head nurse who said it was just to put a monitor on him to see if he needed a pacemaker.  So, he has apparently had some problem with his heart in the past for them to consider putting in a pacemaker.
 
 
 
By the way, John, your mother scares the daylights out of me sometimes.  When I talked to her a few days ago she started asking me questions about Mike and I felt she knew something wrong.  She asked about 4 times if he was alright, then asked about several other things which she never mentions.  I really do believe t hat she is psychic.
 
 
 
Now, now, don't all of you guys run out and get on the phone.
 
 
 
I love ever one of you big lugs.
 
 
 
"Wally" Huggins
 
 

[Fritter]

Wow, that's pretty scarey.  I will keep him in my thoughts.

Not to be a downer, but my mother in law had symptoms a few years back where she mixed up words, stumbled, etc.....she had a brain tumor. 

[.]

I wish him a 100% recovery !
And thank you for including us in your story John.
 
P.S. Could he have leaned over to put the groceries in the trunk and when he went to stand up, bashed his head into the trunk lid latch and passed out ?

[johnl]

I wish him a 100% recovery !
And thank you for including us in your story John.
 
P.S. Could he have leaned over to put the groceries in the trunk and when he went to stand up, bashed his head into the trunk lid latch and passed out ?

Thanks Richard, Mike is a pretty special guy in my book and we've been friends for at least 50 years.  Regarding what actually happend I don't think had been determined at the time I spoke with him and his dad Fred. 

Side note:  for those of you that read "Wally's" post it may be confusing.  Fred Huggins looked exactly like the Captain in the TV show McHale's Navy who's characters name was Wally Binghamton (Joe Flynn) and that was a nick name all of the guys gave him.

I'm planning on calling Mike today and get updates and if there are any I'll share with all of you.

[.]

Thankfully he didn't get stuck with the nickname "lead Bottom" !
(another nickname for Capt. Binghamton)
:-)

[johnl]

Thankfully he didn't get stuck with the nickname "lead Bottom" !
(another nickname for Capt. Binghamton)
:-)

I just completed about a 15 minute conversation with Mike and Freddie.  Both sounded better, but Mike still has a bit of a slur in his speech.  He has been on meds for Parkinson's and sometimes that will do this to him. 

No further developments at this time. 

[So.Cal.Life]

     Wishing him all the best, hope its the meds, let us know John.        KG

[johnl]

Below is the latest e-mail received from Fred Huggins regarding Mike's condition.  I phoned Mike today and had a chat.  He sounds better but is still struggling with some words and I guess finds it difficult to move about.  Today happens to be his 65th birthday.




 
 


Just a note to bring you up to date on Michael's condition.  I'm sure my "boys" have been kept up to date daily since Pete and Claudia arrived on the scene to help out.  And, they have been a godsend to me and their cell phones have been working overtime to let the rest of the boys know what is going on..
 
 
 
Some of you may not know what has happened so briefly, they found him unconscious and bleeding (from a bad cut in his back side of the head) in the parking lot of Costco two weeks ago.  He doesn't know what happened and no one else does but supposition has ranged from being hit by a car to just passing out or maybe stumbling with his parkinson's disease.

 
 
Anyway, he spent 5 days in hospital.  He obviously has had some serious head trauma as his thought processes seem to be shattered somewhat and he has had trouble communicating.  He weill go to say something and about halfway through a sentence he just goes blank.  So, he obviously has had some serious damage.
 
 
 
I brought him home 9 days ago and Pete and Claudia showed up from Colorado Springs a couple of days later and have been so much help.
 
 
 
I don't know what the future holds for him but am sure he will come back okay but it is just going to take awhile.  My big concern is keeping him out of the car (it is a new car) until he is much better mainly because the right leg is the one affected by the Parkinsons and his reflexes are just not good yet.  Pete and Claudia say they will stay as long as needed but they have their own lives to live and they can't stay very long. 

 
 
But, we are all counting on him making a miraclous recovery and I think he is showing improvement every day.
 
 
 
Just keep him in your thoughts and prayer s and he will come through this.
 
 
 
Ole' Fred