Sandy Garcia-Madigan:
CLASS OF 1989
Brush High SchoolClass of 1989
Brush, CO
Colorado Institue of ArtClass of 1991
Denver, CO
Sandy's Story
Hey Everyone,
Small update October 2009: Due to circumstance beyond my control and health reasons; I soon will be relocating back to Colorado. So, after 16 years I hope to see some old faces (that will be new to me) real soon.
Time does go by quickly, and next thing you know we are nearing 40, losing hair, having families, etc. The one thing that doesn't change is where we all came from, a small town that was safe and nice place to raise a family. Since my years in Brush, I have moved to the East coast. First, down south in Charleston, SC where my life began as an adult. I lived there with my brother for awhile, then I met my husband. Then after nine years in Charleston, SC he moved me to Pittsburgh, PA. There are so many reasons we moved here but; after nine years here due to health reasons I am moving back to Colorado.
You'd be surprised to know that I haven't picked up a tool to paint or draw since I left Colorado. I got lost in my career and when that ended, I just got lost in life. You see not many people know this but at 22 I was diagnosed with cancer cells in my large intestine. The doctors thought that removing the entire large intestine was the best solution. No one could have predicted the countless bowel obstructions to follow for the next 9 years. Then they gave us the news that my liver was bad, cirrohis as a matter fact, with a case of bile duct disease also knon as PSC. I got this problem due to the cancerous bowel. So, this was one of the reasons I moved to Pittsburgh; it has the #1 liver transplant hospital in the world. They created the very first liver transplant procedure here by Thomas E. Starzl, now named the Thomas E. Starzl Liver Transplant Clinic at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Upon moving here we went to the center to be put on the list and in the process of being tested we discover that I now had Chron's Disease. Then soon discovered that what I was really having was Chronic Pouchitis. Since a J-Pouch was made to subsitute the large intestine, so I did not have to keep a illestomy bag for life.
OHHHHH!!! Let me not forget one more little gold nugget. In August of 2005 my we had decided to take an all-inclusive vacation for 10 days in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. About a week in half into the vacation, disaster struck. Three days prior to my birthday, we thought it would be fun to go kayaking. Now, since we were on the Pacific Ocean side (much stronger then the Atlantic) and the night prior was extremely stormy which resulted in very choppy waves the morning we decided to go kayaking. something inside me said "don't go just lay by the pool"; but NO like an...Expand for more
idiot I went. While in the boat Roger (my husband) began to vomit because his breakfast didn't agree with him. Then I was concerned by what was going on so I turned in the same direction he was leaning. Yes, you guessed it, I fell out of the kayak because it flipped. I swam to the closest shore and waited for everyone until they were ready to go back to the resort.
This is the best part though, on returning to the resort, my first thought was "get me the hell out of this stupid kayak." The bad part was the waves were strong (remember a storm hit the night before) which in turn made it difficult to come in steady. As soon as the kayak hit the beach, I jumped out then got knocked right back down by a wave. Now, Roger was trying to push the kayak away from me but before he fully completed that task a wave knocked him down. So that damn kayak ended up heading straight in my direction and because I was already down it impacted into my right ankle. I was immediately taken to the resort clinic where they pulled like hell to reset it, and after that I was sent to the hospital. Then I had a prehistoric operation on my leg with not only wonderful scars as nice momento but they also gave me a full length cast (up to my thigh) that came right off as soon as we got home. It turned out that I had a compound fracture to the ankle plus my tibia and fibia were broken. When we went to the doctors here they decided I was going to be put in a exterior fixtor and be bed bound for six months. Amazingly, the doctor's scar memento given here in the state are far less noticeable then the one Mexico gave me.
So now I have two plates one the tibia the other on the fibia and a rod to hold my ankle in place plus two little screws that remind me daily how much my damn leg hurts.
So in March of 2006, one month after Physical Therapy my brother-in-law (my husband's faternal twin brother) gave me 65% of his liver and 2 bile ducts. This also is a very long story so I'll spare you. However, because of my husband and his brother I am able to write this message to anyone who might read it.
Keep this in mind if you think this is amazing, this was and is my adventure for now. I was blessed to have had my family and to have found someone and his family, who was and is able to endure all the good and all the bad life has to offer with each and everyone of us. I just pray that for my classmates of 1989 that they each had someone of this character in their lives as they go through their journey of life. And when life gives you lemons make lemonade, it is a cool refreshing drink you know.
Some advice: Don't ever go kayaking!!!
Godspeed
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