To better understand my stories I thought I'd better let you in on some unknowns about me. I realize it's all very straight forward.....but as a friend of mine put it, "it has to be, because this is who you are...and why." I was born in Brooklyn NY on December 29, 1964. I was a surprise, you could say, to my father and mother, who were not married and for that matter not even seriously involved. A child of lust, some would say. My birth mother left me with my father when I was just a few weeks old. I have no idea what happened to her, and I'm not really worried about it. My father hired a 19 year old woman to come and be my nannie. It was this woman who I would begin and to this day call "Mom." She and my father were married after she had worked for him one year. They divorced two years later and I went to live with my newfound mother. Soon after the divorce, when we had relocated to a small town just outside of Houston TX, we discovered that I have a disease called Hemophilia. This is not a transferable disease- meaning you can't catch it like a common cold. It is a blood disorder that does not allow my blood to properly clot. You can read more about it at this website www.hemophilia.org. When I was about seven years old she remarried to a terrific man who I owe a great many things to. This guy, Cody, also had a son three years older than myself named Vinny. Having a brother was great. My father remarried a year after that and had another son. My half brother's name is Aaron. We don't generally speak a whole lot because he has chosen to be gay and I cannot approve of his lifestyle. I will always love him as a brother, but I cannot love the way he lives. When I was ten years old, Cody, Vinny and I were in a terrible car accident and Vinny was killed. This was a horrible time for my family, but we accepted God's will and chose to continue on. It was soon after his death that Mom discovered she was pregnant. Unfortunately, there were complications with the birth and Magnus only lived for seven months. Again, we accepted God's will and moved on with our lives. I will share more with you on how we dealt with the deaths of my brothers in some other stories. Life continued on for us as well as life can go, I suppose. True, there's much I'm not telling you here, but you can read it all in other stories. :o) When I was 19 years old I was diagnosed with a form of cancer called Hodgkin's Disease. This form of cancer attacks the body in various ways, but is typically found in lymph nodes. You can read more about it by visting www.cancer.org and searching for "Hodgkin's Disease." I underwent months of radiation and chemotherapy to beat this disease, but only with heavy prompting from family and friends. This was a very pivotal point in my life. I didn't know what I wanted to do as a profession, I didn't know where I wanted to go to school, and I sure had no idea where my life was headed! I was prepared to just lie down and die, but my family just wouldn't let me. I am forever grateful to them for that. During my battle I was finding the things I had been searching for my entire life: Love, God, and Hope. In future stories I will explain how I found each of these great gifts. Obviously, by God's grace, I survived the ordeal and am here to tell you about it. I don't regret it for an instant. Life hands us twists and turns and our fates are changed by how we respond. Sometimes challenges are good, and sometimes they are much less than that. Nevertheless, we must press on and continue to do good, and we will be rewarded for our efforts. In late 2000, Grace and I had a falling out. Our lives were turning in opposite directions and our hearts were no longer together. Though unfortunate we chose to divorce early in 2001. Shortly before my differences with Grace became apparent, I was reunited with a long, lost childhood friend. Desiree Ann Neil had been my sweetheart all through growing up. Our roads parted and we lost each other at the end of high school. Our spouses brought us together, both were police officers, and we reunited in hugs and tears. Like she had always in the past, Desi supported me through my divorce, and I helped her escape an abusive and terrible marriage as well. Our paths were rejoined, as were our hearts and souls. My "dad," Cody, entered some failing health late in 2001. Desi, my lost love, and I wanted to be able to fufil a childhood dream while he was still around... We were married on June 16, 2002. Cody passed days after. All experiences are for stories yet to come... So the family has expanded...and now includes Desi Marcus Adrian Neil 12/12/84 Adriana Desiree 2/12/85 Arianna Nicole 3/25/89 Xander "Andy" Kyan 4/15/90 Duncan Gabriel 5/11/90 Alyssa Marie 9/2/94 Duane Paul 5/19/00 Cody Mercer 3/30/04 |
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