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Michael Morse, in his late 40's passed away Wednesday due to complications of surgery and infection brought on by his hemophilia and H.I.V. infection. The irony of this is that his H.I.V. infection was not brought on by intravenous drug use, nor by a sexual life style, sadly it was brought about through tainted blood administered to him years ago...but back to this later.
When I was a boy of about 7 my family purchased a house in a quaint neighborhood when the town I lived in was still considered small. The people next door had a son that was just three years younger than I and we bonded pretty quick. Being young though, I didn't then understand all the aspect of what hemophilia was nor did I understand its impact on the human body. Michael just wanted to be treated like any other kid, to run, wrestle, play sports or grab plastic rifles and set elaborate traps for enemy combatants. We, the neighborhood gang that is, which actually consisted of me, Michael and another boy that lived down the street, quickly found out about Michael's limitations.
Falling would result in wearing leg braces, a cut would land him in the hospital, bruises would lead to internal bleeding yet in spite of this, Michael never once complained nor wanted to be treated different than anyone else. Being kids, we really didn't fully comprehend Michael's predicament. Sometimes we would even get a tad jealous that his parents would buy him the best toys to compensate, toys I might add he allowed us to play with. That was just his nature, his blue eyes also twinkled with a hidden mirth, like the real joke wasn't on him at all and though he didn't roar in laughter, he had a deep chuckle and we heard it often. When we would rough house, his dad of course would get on to us and try to explain that Mike couldn't play like other kids, but being kids our retention of this was rather limited.
As I grew older the realization began to sink in to me how fragile Michael really was and actually just what kind of person his circumstance made him. You see, he never complained, never felt sorry for himself in front of us and never used his hemophilia as an attention device. We also drifted apart, after High School and College we lost track of each other but we would run in to each other from time to time. He was always bright, his eyes retaining that mirth that some cosmic joke was going on that only he could understand and that chuckle was still always forth coming and always resulted in a smile from whomever heard it.
Now there are people that get medals for moments of bravery, acts of courage and deserved so. There are moments of great sacrifice one makes for the whole that songs are sung about, novels are written, movies are made...but there are also the unnoticed ones that live in courage daily, that have to be brave every day whether it is facing the doctor and the dread diagnosis or going under regular surgery or simply walking out of the house and hoping that you will not cut yourself or fall.
But Michael courage went deeper than that. Even after he was diagnosed with H.I.V. from tainted blood during a transfusion and even when his girlfriend left him after finding out, that mirth never left his eyes. Instead he took what he won in a law suit from the hospital and traveled the country and became the spokesperson for fellow suffers of hemophilia.
Now I have known interesting people, from bikers to people from my chemical days that were "protection" for dealers, I have known soldiers and law enforcement officers who have or had to face situations that called for a deeper sense of bravery that we most do not have to even confront. But to be fair, those are moments that they stepped up to the plate, Michael stepped up to the plate just to get out of bed and face the day of pain and knowing he had no hope for a cure but a life full of hospitals, surgeries, transfusions, leg braces and eventually a wheel chair. What he did with his life transcended his affliction and actually gave others hope.
So next I ever feel sorry for myself, I will think of Mike.
The Chinese say, "may you live in interesting times." I would say, "May you know interesting people." You will be richer for it.
God bless ya Mike...I know now where ever you are, you are free from your pain ridden body and soaring now.
9:17 AM
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