David Kasle:
CLASS OF 1974
Hamden High SchoolClass of 1974
Hamden, CT
Stanford University - Electrical EngineeringClass of 1992
Stanford, CA
Yale UniversityClass of 1978
New haven, CT
David's Story
Fall, 2008
I graduated from Hamden High School in 1974, and entered Yale University that fall.
After graduating from Yale with a B.S. in astrophysics, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I grew up (sometimes I'm still not sure!), so I moved to the Boston area, and took a job with the C.S. Draper Laboratory working on assorted defense projects for five years. Eventually I figured I better learn something that someone would pay me to do before anyone caught wise to the fact that I didn't know anything of value. So I started taking electrical engineering classes at MIT and applying to graduate schools. I was fortunate to get into Stanford, and I moved back to my home state of California and lived in a cabin on my Dad's property while attending grad school. I eventually got a M.S. in electrical engineering, and then was hired by NASA to work on a space based astronomical detector while finishing my Ph.D. As part of my thesis I designed a decoder chip which is currently flying onboard the Hubble Space Telescope as part of the STIS experiment.
Towards the end of graduate school I met my future wife, a wonderful woman named Margie. We were married in 1991, and in November of 1993 welcomed our first child, a boy named Jonathan. Jonathan had a rough start; he was born with a cleft lip and palate. After he endured two surgeries to correct this condition, he was doing quite well, and we tried for another child. That pregnancy seemed to be going well until Margie went in for an amniocentesis, which revealed that this child had severe holoprosencephaly, and could not possibly survive. With great sadness we terminated that pregnancy.
A few months later we were visiting Margie's parents in Japan when Jonathan lost the ability to walk. It took several weeks before we had the correct diagnosis. It was neuroblastoma, a particularly terrible pediatric cancer with a low cure rate. He was unable to walk because it had metastasized to his leg. This was just short of his second birthday. Margie and I prayed many times to trade places with him. Jonathan endured surgery, chemotherapy, more surgery, radiation and a bone marrow transplant. Throughout this hellish ordeal his heroism was exemplary. A number of people told us that we took very good care of him during this period, but the truth is he took better care of us. He was always the brave one. He always found a way to comfort us when we were sad or scared.
When Jonathan was in remission, we had another son, Jeffrey. We felt very lucky that Jonathan was doing well, and that now we had another beautiful boy in our family. Jonathan in particular was thrilled to have a b...Expand for more
aby brother, and showered Jeffrey with care and affection. Unfortunately our luck did not last. A few months later Jonathan relapsed, with no chance of a cure this time. Four months later it was clear the end was near. We gathered friends and family at our house to see him for what might be the last time. One by one, Jonathan reached out to hold the hand of each person in the room. He was clearly saying goodbye. I saw my father quietly weeping after he held hands with Jonathan. Jonathan died in my arms the next day. It was 4:30 PM on January 26th, 1998.
Since then life has gone on. I miss Jonathan every day, but I feel fortunate that he was in my life and that Margie and Jeffrey and I are still together. Jeffrey is entering the 6th grade, and is a bright and very affectionate boy. We play chess together and make electronic toys like multicolored light sabers. Margie is working as a consultant in medical device marketing. And I'm currently working designing Application Specific Integrated Circuits for the 3D graphics division of AMD.
I had a close call a year ago when I was hospitalized for six weeks for severe colitis. Margie literally saved my life by noticing when no one else did that I had a slight swelling of my leg, indicative of blood clots. Despite the doctor's condescending skepticism, she insisted that they give me an ultra sound test. I was clotted solid from my knee up into the inferior vena cava, and throwing smaller clots into my lungs. They followed up with a CT scan that showed an "impressive" load of pulmonary emboli. I also developed an allergic reaction to heparin, thrombocytopenia, a central line infection, and a Clostridium Difficile infection. In addition I bled into my leg and became so anemic that I needed to be transfused three or four units of blood. Again it was Margie who suggested that my tendency to lose consciousness indicated severe anemia.
When things were looking bad, I told Margie that in case I didn't make it, I wanted her to know that she and Jonathan and Jeffrey were the best thing that ever happened in my life. I eventually pulled through; I guess it wasn't my time. But I am tormented by the knowledge that Jonathan was a much better person than I could ever be, and that he should be the one who is alive.
I regret that this narrative is overly lugubrious. But I count myself as lucky to have had a wonderful son like Jonathan, and to still have Margie and Jeffrey and the rest of my family and friends. I don't pretend to know what life is all about, but I am sure that love is the most important part of it. And in that aspect of life I have been very fortunate.
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
