Editor:
I am Angela Ross, Don Ross’s wife.
Most of you know Donald for his oil paintings, and classes and such. Well, Donald has been given a mountain to climb.
A few years ago he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that takes over your lungs – and one that needs exposure, as there is no cure and very little medical knowledge towards a cure.
When Donald was diagnosed he was already a victim and was given a life expectancy of three to five years.
He’s on the downside of that time, with maybe two years left. It’s a hideous disease.
My husband, who has always been a hard worker (no joke: at 70 he could outwork a 40-year-old); now he can hardly walk our block which is 6/10 of mile.
He is a warrior and has not given up though it’s getting harder and harder. Too old for a lung transplant, we are waiting for the end.
At times Donald is coughing his lungs up and unable to breathe, at times wobbly and just plain weak, and always in pain.
He has cough syrups and an experimental medication that is worthless in my opinion but which give Donald hope.
What I’m asking of all who read this letter is prayers.
Prayers for a cure, for comfort, and if it is the end, then for a peaceful end.
P.S. Some of Donald’s paintings are currently on display at City Hall and will be there through April.
He’d love for you all to see them.
P.P.S. If there is anybody out there who reads this who was a Navy person on the U.S.S Oriskany or U.S.S. Forrestal in 1966 or 1967 and knows of asbestos on either ship, please contact:
Don Ross, 28050 Meridian Hts Loop, Sweet Home, OR 97386; call us at (541) 367-7291 (home) or (542) 405-2833 (cell); or by email at [email protected].
Angela Ross
Sweet Home