Thank you!!

Hello all! I wanted to take a moment in the midst of my chaotic day to thank every single one of you involved in these groups and on facebook. My brother and I were overwhelmed by the beautiful bouquets of flowers. They were amazing and more than we ever expected. I know some of you made contributions to the Lighthouse also in his name. All of the honor, and the way you have remembered him, has made this whole ordeal a little less difficult for my brother and I. We are so proud that our Dad had such a positive impact on the world. Thank you so much for all the encouragement you have given my brother and me!

For a very long time my Dad, my brother, and I were fighting a battle that no one else seemed to understand. Nobody else understood his day to day struggles. Doctors were often time completely clueless and that made the sometimes very frequent trips to the hospital even more stressful than they already were. Trying to explain to people what lymphedema is and why it affected his body the way it did would sometimes become very tiresome. Many days there was no one that my Dad could relate to in his illness. Then he decided one day to start his website. Suddenly he had this enormous support group that understood him. Each and every one of you made him feel less alone in the world.

I know so many of you are grateful because my Dad helped you some how. But I want to let you all know how grateful I am for all of you! Having people that he could share his struggle with made him feel like he finally had a cause to work for. All of you are what pulled him through the last 10 years! All of you are what kept him fighting. This work was so important to him. I want to make sure it continues. Essentially, this is his legacy. All of you, and the family everybody has become, is his legacy. Thank you so much for the support you all gave him.

I am going to attempt to post this in his groups so every person who reached out to us knows how much their support meant. However, Dad had A LOT of groups and websites! I am still stumbling upon some. So if any of you find that I missed a group or site please let me know. Please pass along my mine and my brother’s gratitude to everyone involved.

Hugs to all!

Emily Dant