Gary's Page
INTRODUCTION
Gary Skomasa '74 passed away Sunday, Dec 12. Gary is survived by his wife, Tammy, and his son, Grant. His mother, Gloria Skomasa. Two sisters: Barbara (Marc) Brown and Jennifer (Brian) Rujawitz. Gary was worried about Grant's education, in lieu of flowers, it would be greatly appreciated if donations could be made to the account that we have set up for Grant's education, at Chase Bank, in Golden, Colorado. Checks should be made to Grant Skomasa and given to Tammy or directly to Chase Bank 17207 South Golden Road, Golden - (303) 273-0573
Gary created this site more than 8 years ago. During his undaunted fight against his illness, which began in 2000, he did his best to keep this site running. He also. on occassion, wrote about his tribulations. Below is his diary of his fight in his own words.
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Winter 2010 2-10-0210
Well Life sure does some interesting tricks. I Want to thak all of my fellow Maine South Alumni for the continued Support helping me through this cruel attempt at ending my life. It sure does mean a lot to me that there are people out there suich as yourself that have offered their thoughts and prayers. Can
Summer 2009
Hello and Welcome back
Finally after taking a couple of years to repair myself, I have been able to get some changes started on the site. One popular feature in the past was the Maine south History and Southwords articles. I was able to recover these files and started to look at them. I found it interesting to look at views and predictions, let alone styles. In the 1963 pages, the thought of a new Maine South was over whelming, would it ever happen... Today we have 30,000 alumni of this great institution. We have Pulitzer Prize winners, Senators, a first Lady, a Head of State, Professional Athletes and Olympians. WMTH in its 50th year has produced many professional newscasters, anchors, weather people, and disc Jockeys. In business we have some of the most powerful people in the world, like the person who took over the vision of Microsoft from Bill Gates, the creator of Lotus Notes which some call the forerunner to the Internet, a guy who splits atoms just for the fun of it, and by the way happened to fill in the missing blanks left by Isaac Newton. Medically, we are host to many resound Doctors such as the guy who recreated how necks and spines are put back together. We have actors, actresses, musicians, artists, signers and the list goes on. What we do not have is a central place to mark these Alumni for what they have truly accomplished. These accomplishments are made once they leave Maine South as alumni, but they are built on the ideals and principals learned while a student at Maine South. For this reason, Ed Taisich and I have discussed for several years the idea of an Alumni Wall of Fame. I know physically at Maine south there are awards scattered throughout the building. Some are located in the PA Wing, others in the Gym, C-Wing, etc. Most of the awards posted are from students, as they should be, but there is no place to say these are the accomplishments of our Alumni.
We are about to make that Alumni Wall of Fame come true. Please watch here for more information. The initial class will be inducted at or about Homecoming 2009. We will have categories coming soon, but if you have any categories you would like to see, send them to Ed Taisich or myself. Gary@skomasa.com .
A class from the 60's put together a newsletter for themselves. It is called Hawk Droppings, and I will be adding the current and past editions as they come available.
Ok, and finally about me. Thanks for the hundreds of notes and cards. It is very much appreciated. In March I went through a month of Chemo like experimental treatments called Rutuxon. This drug is not approved for GVHD, and never will be because of the cost associated with it. It is not covered by insurance, but the manufacturer is trying to help out a little. I was told not to expect any results for at least six weeks and I held my breath in anticipation. I was totally worn out by the treatments, but I am now seeing signs of improvement. My dead skin is softening, I am getting new skin on my stomach and legs and I am starting to sweat. I have not been able to produce sweat in many years. I'm not out the woods yet, but the results are good enough that we will be trying a second round later in the summer. While all of this was going on, I become increasingly weak, and had a hard time breathing again. I had been off of Oxygen since November, but I had to go back on it. By the time I realized that I was in trouble, I had developed a full blown pneumonia. I was checked in and given ore drugs and 6 liters of Oxygen. I did not think it was too terribly serious until the doctors wanted to make certain my wish were spelled out in my advanced directive. That scared the poop out of Tammy and me. The good news is, they were able to give me enough poison to kill the Pneumonia and I was able to check out after a week. I was told to expect at least a month of feeling all out tired, and they were right. I sleep more than I am up, but I do get up and keep on fighting this battle.
Finally after several years of weekly visits to the wound clinic and casts on my feet, the holes have finally started to seal over enough to give me a chance to wear shoes with orthotics. I can not tell you what a strange feeling it is to put on a shoe, but it is really great to feel part of the human race again. I now am faced with learning to walk with one leg shorter than the other. This is nothing compare to the challenges I have had over the passed 9 years. Yes May 19th was my 9th rebirth anniversary. I am grateful everyday that I beat the odds by having a transplant supplied by my sister Jennifer.
Please update your information, we will be improving the process very soon.
Go Hawks!
Gary
New Years 2009
Hello and Welcome
Yes I have been struggling for life for the past couple of years. Every time they tell me to pack it up, I get mad and get a little better.
The Past 12 months have taken a real toll on me. I broke my hip not once but twice. The doctor said they missed a hairline fracture the first time and it allowed me to break the screws and bend the hardware. Well he made sure the second one would not break. He threw a rod into my leg bone running the length of the Femur. Only problem is I now have a leg an inch and a quarter shorter than the original. So I now have special shoes and everything that goes with it.
My eye continues to give me trouble, but after six more operations in 2008, I was told that I might be able to get my sight back sometime in late 2009. Hey that is this year. The secondary cancer that they took out of my left cheek has created quite a bit of scare tissue. I have switched doctors who is working really hard to lengthen the skin so I can once again shut my eye.
I guess the hardest news for me is that my foot wounds are not getting better. They healed without regenerating skin. So I am left with two craters one on the heal which is about a quarter in size and 10 mil deep. The new one is on the ball of my foot. It is about the size of a half dollar, but is down to the tendons and just covering the bone. I will not let them take away both of my legs!!!
The final thing that I go to rehab for is my neck. Because of all the GVHD and medication, my neck no longer has the strength to hold my head up. The deep muscles just do not work anymore. I have bent a dozen custom braces without any long term luck.
With a new year comes new hope. So here is to all of you. If I can survive, and view life as a good thing, then I expect you can as well.
Happy New Year
Gary Skomasa
Latest news on Gary's condition......11/10/2007
Hello all,
Some of you have heard some of my news, and I thought I would let you all know as I continue to be on the Maine South Alumni Association.
Finally after more than a year on oxygen, I have been able to get off of it. They gave me the medicine which they give to kids with ADHD, and it is working just the opposite as it does for kids. It gives me more energy, raised my blood pressure, and helped me think clearer. That is the good news.
What started out as a PUVA (light treatment for my GVHD) burn on my cheek has become a rare form of cancer. This cancer attacks only Transplant patients. It is a fibrous tumor on my left cheek which is growing very rapidly. On Friday I will go in for inpatient surgery at U of C Hospital. They will be cutting out the tumor and my cheek. The surgeon said he also needs to cut out a quarter inch margin around the tumor. They are going to leave the wound open for now. Once Pathology comes back they will try to figure a way to reconstruct my cheek. With all of my skin rejection, they will have a hard time finding skin on my body in good enough shape to graft on to my face. For now they will be cutting many of the nerves on my face and this means I will lose control in areas like my nose, lips, and lower eye lid.
I am more scared of this than I was with the original Transplant back in 2000. My body physically is in much less condition and healing has become quite a challenge. I do not have a choice; I must continue to fight this terrible disease. What I worry about most is Tammy and Grant. While I do not have a choice in going through this, Tammy and Grant continue taking care of me while I attempt to get better. Tammy has shown outward strength and support to me far beyond what could be expected. She has sat with me each step of the way for the past 7+ years. As a first grader, Grant is trying to understand and has asked some very good questions. But it certainly is not fair to a child of this age watching his father go downhill.
I guess I am only asking for you to think of me in your prayers (if you are so inclined) and try to understand the tremendous pressure on Tammy and Grant.
Thank you all for your support.
Gary Skomasa
e-mail received Wed Feb 28, 2007
I had the eye surgery Monday and I am still wacked out, only I am permanently blind in the left eye with it sewn shut.... What's next?????
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Previous e-mail
My Dad died on Halloween and prior to that I had going back and forth to Chicago every other week. upon the last visit to Lutheran General, it turns out that I picked up a STAPH infection with MRCA. It is only found in hospitals, but who would think that LGH would be that dirty. I had made comments how dirty his floor was, but did not think much of till I came home. My legs were bleeding and went back to the skin Doctor who took cultures (cut out some skin) ended up in the hospital for much of November and was switched to morphine based mega pain killers. I do not remember anything from My dad's funeral to the new year. Ever since coming home we started daily nursing care to treat my wounds, but I was told today insurance for home nursing will run out at the end of February.