The Miracle of Malcolm
The summer of 2015 changed my life. It will forever remain in my memory as the summer I experienced The Miracle of Malcolm. My beloved friend Malcolm Swisher was beset by a terrible illness in March 2015. To make a long and amazing story short, in six months he went from moderate illness to surgery to a deadly infection to life support to a tracheostomy (unable to speak), oxygen and a feeding tube -- weighing 98 lbs -- to almost complete recovery.
Today Malcolm is out of the hospital and up to 128 lbs -- walking and talking like you or me - no trach, no oxygen, no breathing tube, no feeding tube - full of energy and determination. He just passed his 71st birthday, something many of us feared might never happen.
This is a story about Malcolm, but it is equally a story about the magnificent courage and resilience of the people who love him. Malcolm's beloved Barbara never gave up even through the awful terror and sleepless nights when Malcolm was on life support and later struggled to communicate for weeks with a trach tube and no voice.
Malcolm's courageous and determined daughter, Kirsten, his son, Jason, his amazing mom, Bea (Bea passed away at the age of 95 two months after Malcolm was released from the hospital. Malcolm speaks often about his beloved mom who was there for him every moment of her life and beyond.) So many friends and family were there for him: his brother-in-law, Nick, his son-in-law, Joe and his friends: Isabel and Eddie (shown below), Deb, Jack, Christine, Frank, Bart, Laura, Margo, Yap, Dennis, Gene, Robert, Judy, Samora, Maryellen, Stephen, Ed, Si, Elaine, Richie, Jose, Hilda, Ron, Cesar, Melissa, Jermaine, Roger, Damon, Franklin, David, Dave, Daryl, Ron, Craig, Claudius, Dominika & Tom (also shown below), and dozens of others (too numerous to mention as you see) were with him every step of the way. We all rode the wild, painful rollercoaster together - as a family, as a community -- joined together by one unbreakable bond - our endless love and belief in our dear Malcolm.
It was a summer where I truly witnessed the very best in my fellow human beings.
Very few thought that Malcolm would survive - but to know Malcolm is to know a person of extraordinary courage, resilience, stubbornness, humor and passionate joy in being alive.
Below are a few photos from his journey. Bless you forever and ever, my friend. You taught me that anything is indeed possible if we never give up.
It is a summer I will always remember.
Below are just a few photos from our story (including Malcolm's dogs who love him as much as we do). It is a story like no other....it is The Miracle of Malcolm:
