It has been both a year to remember and forget at Titan Research, that is all I can really describe it as in a nutshell. I’ll warn you, this is likely to be a lengthy post. I contemplated even posting this, but for the sake of perspective, I decided it would be better to give a little understanding, and especially after reading recent posts about the situation, I couldn’t let that go unrecognized or unappreciated. I’m a changed man, and I have a renewed faith in humanity and in the belief that there is good in everyone, which comes to the surface in times of adversity.
Some perspective:
As some of you know, this has been a trying time for me personally, and 2017 hasn’t been kind to me as a whole. So far this year alone, the following events have taken place in my life, and caused what I can only describe as a character trial. It probably should have broken my spirit, and without a doubt it would have destroyed the resolve of many men. I’m ashamed to admit I almost refunded everyone and quit. I don’t think anyone would have held it against me if I just gave in and shut down, if they knew the details. So here are the details: (some of these do not directly affect lab operation, but are provided to give you a glimpse of the personal side of things from my own perspective.)
Early in 2017, both of my parents relapsed with cancer within 6 weeks of each other. My dad was given 3 years to live 5 years ago, but then through treatment and surgeries, overcame it. After a routine checkup during remission, his cancer had returned in multiple organ systems, and he now was not responding to chemo and radiation like before (apparently common) and without revealing too much info here, let’s just say his cancer had moved to a place that was inoperable at his stage and condition. His only current hope is to respond favorably to what his doctors are calling an “exploratory” method of treatment. My mother was given the bad news weeks later about her own condition, though she still had a great shot of treatment and recovery. She is understandably a lot less enthusiastic about that than most patients would be, since her recovery time is relatively the same length of time the doctors say my dad has remaining. These two have been soulmates and completely inseparable for their entire marriage, and the most honest, hardworking, and loving people you could ever imagine, and the best parents to me and my siblings that they possibly could have ever been. They both worked multiple jobs when times were tough, and gave every ounce of themselves to provide a better life to kids who probably didn’t show nearly enough appreciation until way too late. They don’t deserve what they’re going through, and as of the writing of this post, all prayers continue to be appreciated and very much needed as we continue to deal with the bitch that is cancer and chemo/radiation.
A couple of months after the relapses, my grandpa, the toughest man I have ever known to walk this planet, finally went to his seat at the table in Valhalla. My grandpa was a decorated war hero, a POW, and had books written about some of his deeds. He had fought in two wars, served 28 honorable years in the Marine Corps after lying about his age to join early, and had continued a life of servitude and leadership to his country and family up until the day he died. He was truly a role model for many strong men, and taught me through his actions what it meant to be honorable and righteous, and the importance of living up to your word. He taught me what it meant to be a real man, and set the bar for me to live up to. I will be happy if I live to be half the man he was.
A few weeks after the funeral, I got home from taking my dad to treatment and found my wife a broken mess, crying in the kitchen with her things and our kids packed to go to a family member’s house for a while. I’d been insensitive and unintentionally cruel to her during the trials I had endured recently, and changed from being the loving father and husband I had been into a cold, heartless jerk. I shut the world out, thinking I could deal with my problems by not having any emotion, and in the process made my family feel unloved. She left and took my children with her. She stayed gone for a couple of months, while we both realized how we had changed and what we needed to do to be better for one another. As of the writing of this post, she is currently back, and we are still working on things, and more recent events have given us a mountain to climb in terms of lives together, but things look promising, though how she is sticking by my side right now I have no idea. It’s a true testament to her commitment, since a lot of women would have been gone with much less struggle to face.
In her absence, I was sitting at a traffic light on my motorcycle and was hit by a drunk driver doing highway speeds in the wrong lane. I don’t remember it at all. I got up, walked down the street a little ways, pulled the driver out, and beat his face in with a piece of his truck, then blacked out completely. That’s all according to witness statements, since the last thing I remember is slowing down when the light turned yellow. I spent 8 days including my birthday in a medically induced coma, and was in ICU for a couple weeks. Recovery will not be easy, multiple broken bones, surgeries, torn ligaments and tendons, and apparently a head injury. I’m still in physical therapy currently, and still looking at quite a bit of recovery time, so all support to this point has been appreciated so much, and will continue to be appreciated more than you guys can imagine!
A couple months later, while recovering from this accident and trying to get back to business and normal life, amidst my wife coming home to work things out, a large Bitcoin exchange was seized by the Feds, literally a week or so before the “split and spike” which would have doubled my holdings as well as raised the value quickly. I had everything in it. This put my estimated total loss, including the split and spike, at around $174,000 when it was said and done. This was what I had used to operate with, as well as what I was saving for my family/investing for the future. I was back to square one, and starting to feel extremely down on my luck considering the events of this year.
I put myself together, and tackled the problem with a new resolve. Hard work and trustworthy business got me where I was, so there was no reason I couldn’t do it again. I thought “Life can bend me, but I won’t let it break me.”
3 weeks later, I was in the shower when a nosebleed like you wouldn’t believe started. It wouldn’t stop. I had a huge pain in my forehead and pressure behind my eyes, and started to pass out when I stumbled into the living room and yelled for my wife to help me. She had me rushed to the hospital, and they found a huge clot they hadn’t previously noticed from my motorcycle wreck had broken free in the space between my brain and skull, causing a subdural hemorrhage. My brain was bleeding and the pressure it was causing was making my brain swell, so they had to perform emergency surgery to correct the issue. It’s a miracle they could even do anything about it, they gave me the stats later on how many people live through what I was going through, and I think it was like less than 5%. I’m not sure if that’s accurate, but I know the severity of the situation thanks to a couple of my docs, and I truly am blessed to even be writing this.
The day I was to be released from the hospital, I had an issue the doctors wanted to look a little further into, so I agreed to be held for the weekend. The hospital was evacuated the next day due to Hurricane Harvey. We were transferred to another hospital in North Texas, and I had another problem causing me to require another surgery. I was out for 2 ½ days before they decided it was safe to wake me up. When I woke up and was given a general update on things, my family told me my home and our vehicles were destroyed, along with the homes of my siblings and parents. Everything we have ever had is gone, and we’ll be completely starting over. All of us. My house had so much water in it that you could see only a portion of the roof, and I have a picture of a cadaver search and rescue boat sitting on top of it while they were searching for survivors and bodies in my neighborhood.
I don’t yet know if insurance is going to be of much use, since some of you may remember we also had a roof replaced this year when a bad storm brought trees down on it and knocked out power for several days, and it was a fight for even that, but either way, as of right now my family has lost everything.
Some perspective:
As some of you know, this has been a trying time for me personally, and 2017 hasn’t been kind to me as a whole. So far this year alone, the following events have taken place in my life, and caused what I can only describe as a character trial. It probably should have broken my spirit, and without a doubt it would have destroyed the resolve of many men. I’m ashamed to admit I almost refunded everyone and quit. I don’t think anyone would have held it against me if I just gave in and shut down, if they knew the details. So here are the details: (some of these do not directly affect lab operation, but are provided to give you a glimpse of the personal side of things from my own perspective.)
Early in 2017, both of my parents relapsed with cancer within 6 weeks of each other. My dad was given 3 years to live 5 years ago, but then through treatment and surgeries, overcame it. After a routine checkup during remission, his cancer had returned in multiple organ systems, and he now was not responding to chemo and radiation like before (apparently common) and without revealing too much info here, let’s just say his cancer had moved to a place that was inoperable at his stage and condition. His only current hope is to respond favorably to what his doctors are calling an “exploratory” method of treatment. My mother was given the bad news weeks later about her own condition, though she still had a great shot of treatment and recovery. She is understandably a lot less enthusiastic about that than most patients would be, since her recovery time is relatively the same length of time the doctors say my dad has remaining. These two have been soulmates and completely inseparable for their entire marriage, and the most honest, hardworking, and loving people you could ever imagine, and the best parents to me and my siblings that they possibly could have ever been. They both worked multiple jobs when times were tough, and gave every ounce of themselves to provide a better life to kids who probably didn’t show nearly enough appreciation until way too late. They don’t deserve what they’re going through, and as of the writing of this post, all prayers continue to be appreciated and very much needed as we continue to deal with the bitch that is cancer and chemo/radiation.
A couple of months after the relapses, my grandpa, the toughest man I have ever known to walk this planet, finally went to his seat at the table in Valhalla. My grandpa was a decorated war hero, a POW, and had books written about some of his deeds. He had fought in two wars, served 28 honorable years in the Marine Corps after lying about his age to join early, and had continued a life of servitude and leadership to his country and family up until the day he died. He was truly a role model for many strong men, and taught me through his actions what it meant to be honorable and righteous, and the importance of living up to your word. He taught me what it meant to be a real man, and set the bar for me to live up to. I will be happy if I live to be half the man he was.
A few weeks after the funeral, I got home from taking my dad to treatment and found my wife a broken mess, crying in the kitchen with her things and our kids packed to go to a family member’s house for a while. I’d been insensitive and unintentionally cruel to her during the trials I had endured recently, and changed from being the loving father and husband I had been into a cold, heartless jerk. I shut the world out, thinking I could deal with my problems by not having any emotion, and in the process made my family feel unloved. She left and took my children with her. She stayed gone for a couple of months, while we both realized how we had changed and what we needed to do to be better for one another. As of the writing of this post, she is currently back, and we are still working on things, and more recent events have given us a mountain to climb in terms of lives together, but things look promising, though how she is sticking by my side right now I have no idea. It’s a true testament to her commitment, since a lot of women would have been gone with much less struggle to face.
In her absence, I was sitting at a traffic light on my motorcycle and was hit by a drunk driver doing highway speeds in the wrong lane. I don’t remember it at all. I got up, walked down the street a little ways, pulled the driver out, and beat his face in with a piece of his truck, then blacked out completely. That’s all according to witness statements, since the last thing I remember is slowing down when the light turned yellow. I spent 8 days including my birthday in a medically induced coma, and was in ICU for a couple weeks. Recovery will not be easy, multiple broken bones, surgeries, torn ligaments and tendons, and apparently a head injury. I’m still in physical therapy currently, and still looking at quite a bit of recovery time, so all support to this point has been appreciated so much, and will continue to be appreciated more than you guys can imagine!
A couple months later, while recovering from this accident and trying to get back to business and normal life, amidst my wife coming home to work things out, a large Bitcoin exchange was seized by the Feds, literally a week or so before the “split and spike” which would have doubled my holdings as well as raised the value quickly. I had everything in it. This put my estimated total loss, including the split and spike, at around $174,000 when it was said and done. This was what I had used to operate with, as well as what I was saving for my family/investing for the future. I was back to square one, and starting to feel extremely down on my luck considering the events of this year.
I put myself together, and tackled the problem with a new resolve. Hard work and trustworthy business got me where I was, so there was no reason I couldn’t do it again. I thought “Life can bend me, but I won’t let it break me.”
3 weeks later, I was in the shower when a nosebleed like you wouldn’t believe started. It wouldn’t stop. I had a huge pain in my forehead and pressure behind my eyes, and started to pass out when I stumbled into the living room and yelled for my wife to help me. She had me rushed to the hospital, and they found a huge clot they hadn’t previously noticed from my motorcycle wreck had broken free in the space between my brain and skull, causing a subdural hemorrhage. My brain was bleeding and the pressure it was causing was making my brain swell, so they had to perform emergency surgery to correct the issue. It’s a miracle they could even do anything about it, they gave me the stats later on how many people live through what I was going through, and I think it was like less than 5%. I’m not sure if that’s accurate, but I know the severity of the situation thanks to a couple of my docs, and I truly am blessed to even be writing this.
The day I was to be released from the hospital, I had an issue the doctors wanted to look a little further into, so I agreed to be held for the weekend. The hospital was evacuated the next day due to Hurricane Harvey. We were transferred to another hospital in North Texas, and I had another problem causing me to require another surgery. I was out for 2 ½ days before they decided it was safe to wake me up. When I woke up and was given a general update on things, my family told me my home and our vehicles were destroyed, along with the homes of my siblings and parents. Everything we have ever had is gone, and we’ll be completely starting over. All of us. My house had so much water in it that you could see only a portion of the roof, and I have a picture of a cadaver search and rescue boat sitting on top of it while they were searching for survivors and bodies in my neighborhood.
I don’t yet know if insurance is going to be of much use, since some of you may remember we also had a roof replaced this year when a bad storm brought trees down on it and knocked out power for several days, and it was a fight for even that, but either way, as of right now my family has lost everything.
