“People should be grateful for what they do have and not be obsessed with what they don’t have.” 

That’s just part of what Donald gave me when I ask him what he wanted the readers of this post to know, not necessarily about him, but life in general. I met Donald a few months ago while I was at Piedmont Park here in Atlanta riding my  bike. As I was leaving and loading my bike in my truck he walked by. Naturally, I noticed his prosthetic leg first, and then the shirt he was wearing. It read, “HATE is not a family value”. After I complimented him on it, we got to talking. He was a really interesting guy to me, so I asked if I could do a portrait of him with my iPhone. I did end up doing a portrait of him with it that day, but really wasn’t that happy with it. I saw so much more potential for it in studio. So, I gave him my business card, told him to check out my work, and let him know I’d like to get him in studio to really shoot a portrait of him.

He called me within hours after having looked at the work here on my website — ecstatic over the idea of me doing portraits of him. Within a week I had him in studio, and the shots posted here are from that shoot. I ask him to wear the exact same thing for the portraits as he was wearing that day when I met him and he did. I don’t think I’ve ever had anybody be so appreciative over having me do a portrait of them. Donald is from Dalton, GA and is 46 years old. He lost his leg due to myxoid liposarcoma. As I remember, the doctors gave him only a few weeks to live when they discovered it — amputating his leg was a drastic but necesary step to save his life. 

After he saw the photos I did of him, well, his response to them and me was one of great appreciation. I mentioned to him about writing a blog post on him and he was all for it. So, I emailed him a few questions to answer and this is what I got back:

Are there ank key people that have helped you through life since getting cancer and losing your leg? 

My mother Catherine, my sister, Gail, Stevie Nicks, Tony King, Rick Matszack, Ray McGarth, Otto Bock, Hanger (the company that made his prosthetic) and last but certainly not least, God. 

What is one thing you would like the readers of the blog I write on you to know — not necessarily about you — but life in general:

“Well, I have always heard the saying, ‘You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.’ Life does not owe nothing to anybody. I think people should realize that we are all the same on the inside and that one day we are going to return to the dirt we are all made from. People should be grateful for what they do have and not be so obsessed about what they don’t have. There is beauty everywhere, all over the world. If you go looking for bad than you will find it because misery truly does love company.” 

What are your hopes for the future — your goals and dreams?

“Well, Keith, I hope to be a walking talking example of how truly lucky they are and how good we have it, and that if you have faith and you believe in yourself, then dreams can and will come true. If there is anybody who does not believe that then all they have to do is look at me.” 

Donald has been anxiously waiting for me to write this post on him — he didn’t know that after I read his answers  that I decided it would be a perfect post for Thanksgiving — thus being why I have been sitting on it till now. This past year has been amazingly eye-opening to me. I’ve seen and heard of a lot of pain from friends and family. Some physical, some emotional. Because of this I really have gotten to be more aware and appreciative of the good health I’ve been in. Other than my whole broken ankle incident a couple of years back, I seem to be in pretty good shape — mentally and physically. Others around me have not been so lucky though. My mom is constantly plaqued with a plethora of health issues. My Dad had a pretty unpleasant surgery — twice — that he was not able to bounce back from too quickly. My great uncle is living with chronic pain that has pretty much destroyed his desire to live. A friend had to have a kidney transplant just a year ago. Had her sister not insisted that she take one of her kidneys she would be gone by now most likely. She had made up her mind that she would rather die than deal with the treatments needed to keep her alive. Just last night my hairdresser told me about one of her childhood friends that passed away this past week due to kidney failure. She was only 31, had two young children, and a husband. Another friend had one of her close friends decide to hang herself in her front yard a few months ago one night. She had one kid, a daughter, and a husband that didn’t treat her very well. My mom just wrote me yesterday and told me about a distant family member that’s been fighting cancer for ten years now — and it looks like it may possibly be winning at this point. Another girl I know only through the internet is dealing with her mom having thymus cancer that’s spread to her aorta — the doctors have not been able to remove it. For those of you that don’t know what the aorta is — it’s the largest artery you’ve got, and it distributes oxygenated blood to all parts of the body. Imagine how scary that’s got to be for both her and her mom. 

 It’s not my objective to depress you through all this, I’m just expressing to you how apparent it all seems to have been to me — the sickness and hurt all around me this past year. I can go on with more examples, but I won’t. We all know that we should appreciate our health — but how many of us really do? So many of us take better care of our cars than we do our bodies. It’s not just about physically taking care of yourself either — it’s about taking care of yourself mentally. Our health is of little value to us until we don’t have it anymore. So, this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for my health more than anything else. I’m thankful for having the sense to know I should be thankful. Some people don’t. Donald, I’m thankful for you being a walking talking example of how truly lucky I am, and how good I have it. My dreams are coming true — and through you trusting me to do these portraits and write this post on you  — you have now become part of them. Thank you for that.

Have a great Thanksgiving everybody. Take care of yourself by spending it with those that you care about. That’s what I’m going to do.