My Dad

My dad was the greatest man I knew. He taught me to drive when I was 12. He taught me how to put shingles on a roof, how to cook and how to work hard. He taught me to be a leader and not a follower. But the most important thing he taught me was the gospel. There was nothing more important to him than missionary work. He was never afraid to open his mouth when it came to talking about the church. That's what I admired about him most. In the late summer of August 2003 everything would change forever.
My dad had been having some issues that started to trouble him. Sometimes he would have a hard time talking. He knew what he wanted to say but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth. He drove for UTA and would drive right by passengers he should have picked up. He was sleeping alot. We just thought that he was tired because he worked split shifts and he would come home and work in the yard. He always did weird stuff so we didn't think anything about it. One Sunday he started to have the speech problem again so we took him to the e.r. My mom is an r.n. and she thought he was having mini strokes. The dr.'s took him for an x-ray and while we were waiting we were joking like we always did. I said,"dad at least you don't have brain cancer." We all laughed. The nurse came in and wanted a chest x-ray. We didn't understand because we came in with what we thought was a mini stroke. We asked why the x-ray. Now you have to picture my dad is getting in the wheelchair to be taken to x-ray. The dr. comes in, doesn't say Mr.Fowler we need to tell you something,he just comes right out and says you have brain cancer.

Needless to say we were floored. The next few days were so surreal. He had the best head of hair you have ever seen. He would comb it alot. He would look in the mirror and say you can't perfect perfection and walk away. He shaved his head in preperation for what would come next. CHEMO and RADIATION
He did really well. My mom put him on the macrobiotic diet, he had a blessing and we started to live our lives again. I had gotten pregnant with Sarah, Nate was still working full time and doing the school thing. My mom went back to work. I was a stay-at-home mom and that gave me the opportunityto look after my dad. He had x-rays and the tumor started shrinking. Dad's oncologist couldn't explain it. But we knew. We knew hewas going to get better. A year had almost passed.
Dad woke up one day and couldn't focus his eyes. We immediately took himto the dr. They did a scan and found cancer on his brain stem. We knew that that was it. We didn't have much time left.
I had Sarah September 30,2004. My dad was buried 2 weeks later.
It was the saddest and still is the saddest day of my life. I was daddy's little girl. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him. I have to admit I have lost my faith a little but I am fighting my way back. I hope my dad is proud of me and the things that I have and will accomplish.