Dad worked for Continental / United Airlines for 27 years, 8 months, 3 days. Out of those 27+ years of his career, Dad was a lead mechanic for at least 15 years. He was very well known at Hobby and many of the folks there really liked him as a person and his work ethics.
He always wanted to get on to day shift as a lead mechanic, but there were several people in front of him as far as seniority. So for many years, dad worked a 4/10 graveyard shift Sunday – Wednesday nights. We would have supper as family by 5ish, Dad would go lay down for about an hour and then he would get up and leave by 7:15pm or so to head to work… that was the type of life style that I grew up with.
The guys/ladies at Hobby have been very supportive in this whole process. They are a very caring group of people. Mom wrote up a thank you note to everyone at Hobby and I delivered it to Dad’s supervisor tonight, August 17, 2014. I was talking to Dad’s supervisor and I looked over to Dad’s computer and felt emptiness. It truly felt weird being there at the hanger knowing that Dad was supposed to be working tonight and he wasn’t.
Dad is no longer physically with us today, but his legacy at Continental / United Airlines will be with us forever.
Dad’s cell phone has been deactivated. If you need to get a hold of us, you can call Mom, Jennifer, or I’s cell phone or through Facebook. If you don’t have any of that information, just reply back to this posting.
A photo of Dad was sent to us through Facebook and I thought I would share this with everyone. Its a selfie of dad with Shar Lepard at work on July 9th. Dad loved the people he worked with at Continental / United. I love his smile in this photo. Little know fact: for many years, we would sit at the dinner table and ask dad “So Dad, what did you do today?” He would then tell us all the stuff that happened at work.
There has been couple people that has asked Jennifer and I if we will be shutting down dad’s blog. ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!! One of the best ways to keep Dad’s spirit alive is to have a spot to write about our lives. We will continue to post updates about the Cunningham family among other things. On a personal note, I know the photo section is currently out of date, but over the next month or two, I am planning on importing pictures to bring it up-to-date.
So, please continue looking at the blog to continue honoring dad and all who fight cancer. Feel free to write comments on the blog as well through Facebook.
Dad’s obituary is now available on Scott’s Funeral Home website. Please click the following URL to view it: http://goo.gl/xBzB4d. It will also be printed in the papers.
The viewing will be held at Scott’s Funeral Home in Alvin on Thursday, July 31, 2014 from 5pm – 8pm. The funeral will be held at First United Methodist Church – Alvin on Friday, August 1, 2014 starting at 10am, followed by the Confederate Cemetery burial.
The addresses are listed below:
Scott’s Funeral Home
1421 E. Highway 6
Alvin, Texas 77511
First United Methodist Church
611 W South St.
Alvin, TX 77511
Confederate Cemetery
1277 Dickinson Rd (at the corner of SH 35 and Dickinson Rd)
Alvin, TX 77511
After looking at several different cemeteries in the area, we finally picked Confederate Cemetery in Alvin. It’s a small, well maintain, very peaceful cemetery. Mom, Jennifer, and I feels this cemetery is within my Dad’s wishes.
Confederate Cemetery
1277 Dickinson Rd (at the corner of SH 35 and Dickinson Rd)
Alvin, TX 77511
Besides purchasing a plot for my Dad and Mom, Jennifer and I purchase a plot for each of us so that we will be right next to our parents. Mom said that if we get married and would like a different area, she understood completely. However for now, the four of us will be together in spirit and in body.
The plots will be next to the road so my mom will be able to get to it easily with her wheelchair. Today, we met with the caretaker who is really nice and down to Earth.
It has been a rough couple days here at the house not seeing Dad sitting in his chair, but we are taking one day at a time. We have family and friends coming in from out of state.
The viewing will be held at Scott’s Funeral Home in Alvin on Thursday, July 31, 2014 from 5pm – 8pm. The funeral will be held at First United Methodist Church – Alvin on Friday, August 1, 2014 starting at 10am, followed by the cemetery burial.
At the current time, we are still deciding on the cemetery. We will let you know as soon as we have picked a cemetery.
The address are listed below:
Scott’s Funeral Home
1421 E. Highway 6
Alvin, Texas 77511
First United Methodist Church
611 W South St.
Alvin, TX 77511
Dear friends and family,
On Saturday, July 26, 2014, Dad passed away at 8:51pm CST. Jennifer or I will write more details tomorrow. For now, please just pray for the Cunningham family.
Rest in Peace Dennis Allen Cunningham
October 24, 1955 – July 26, 2014
Age: 58
Dad’s condition has greatly deteriorated just since last night. He is alive, but non-responsive. Hospice is out here and they are now putting him on 24/7 critical care hospice. He is showing signs of his body shutting down… it’s just the matter of time.
Please pray that he is not in pain
As each day goes by, Dad is getting weaker and weaker. For those that want to visit dad, please call the house or mom’s cell and see if that’s a good time or not. According to hospice, its not good for him to have to many people visiting him at the same time…. it needs to be staggered and the visitation needs to be minimal. To many people can get him anxiety attacks, which will flare up his breathing.
Dad is now home from the hospital. Before dad left the hospital, MD Anderson gave him some meds which is knocking him out, but at the same time, he is semi alert on whats going on.
Hospice is currently here getting everything taken care of. She is doing all the paperwork that she needs. The dogs were extremely excited to see dad. However, they know something is up. You can just tell by there face expressions.
More updates to come later…
On Sunday, July 20th, we had our associate pastor and five church members come up to the hospital to visit Dad. Today, July 22nd, a friend from Dad’s work and our senior pastor come and visited or at least attempted to visit Dad (our senior pastor came, but Dad was at a procedure and had to leave before Dad got back). To all who has visited dad, I personally want to thank you for coming. I also want to thank you for all the prayers that everyone has wrote in through the blog and Facebook. It means a lot to Dad and family.
On a side note, while Dad was at his procedure today, hospice showed up. So, Mom, Jennifer, and I talked to hospice and I believe we are going to go with this one company that was recommended by the church and a friend of the family. I will be honest with you, the word hospice scares me. But, they are there to help us out in this difficult time. I am still processing that my Dad is going to pass away within 6 months from this stupid cancer.
While Dad has been in the hospital, he has not adjusted very well to the feeding formula that he now has to take through his feeding tube. He gets very nausea and gets the dry heaves. Furthermore, he was getting the diarrhea within an hour time frame of his feeding.
Yesterday evening, they did a test on him to see if the feeding tube itself has moved. Well, the test results came back inclusive. So today, they took him down to the people who placed the feeding tube in him and adjusted the feeding tube. For now, they are going to put dad on a feeding pump. Basically, he will have a machine pump food slowly in to his stomach 24/7 automatically just so his body can start getting nutrition. If he tolerates that, MD Anderson will consider him going back to the other way by putting food in a bag and allowing gravity push the food into his stomach.
The nurses here are telling us as long as everything goes well, Dad should be discharged from the hospital either late tomorrow evening to Thursday morning.
Dad’s results came in today… just since the PETScan / CT of last week and the CT Scan of yesterday; the doctors have determined that the cancer has gotten bigger in his lungs. I would venture to say that’s probably the reason why his breathing is getting worst.
Dad is no longer allowed to eat or drank through the mouth. Everything has to go through his feeding tube including his meds. The reasoning, if Dad gets sick, there is a possibility the food / liquid can go in his trachea which can go into his lungs.
Lastly, the following is the worst news that Dad has received since him being diagnose with cancer in October 2012.
Dad has a blood clot in his right arm. Furthermore, his right arm was extremely cold this morning. So, they took his PIC out that was in his right arm and are now giving him blood thinners to treat the blood clot. Due this nature, the clinical trial people have confirmed that he is getting kicked off the current clinical trial program. They said unless they can find a clinical trial that allows blood thinners, there is nothing else MD Anderson can do. All other options have been exhausted.
Before Dad started his clinical trial, they force him to go off his blood thinner for his heart. The reasoning because the blood thinner interfere with the clinical trial chemo. We got the approval from his heart doctor to take him off his blood thinner.
Due to his recently breathing complications throughout his 1st week of clinical trial, MD Anderson is putting Dad back on a blood thinner. We don’t know whats going to happen as far as the 2nd week of the clinical trial. Its possible that Dad will get kicked out of this particular clinical trail. 🙁
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In addition to what I wrote, here is what Jennifer wrote:
Dad had lots of test and drs looking at him today. They are really concern about his breathing and his heart. Since he has history of blood clots, that is a concern especially since he is a little swollen. The clinical trial drs felt he needed to be on a blood thinner meds again. We are not sure what that means for the trial as he was not suppose to be on that type of meds.
Dad is really emotional down and we tried to pump him up with some laughs but as you can guess, he is really upset and frustrated. He is no longer allow to have any food by mouth and will be using his feeding tube 100%. They also really do not want him to drink liquids until they find out what is causing all of the issues. To say the least, we are all concern that his chemo treatments will stop so please continue to lift us up.
Dad is in the hospital (at MD Anderson). He started his clinical trial (phase one) on Monday. As far as the trial, things are going good. He has a pump that is pumping chemo into the body 24/7 from Monday -Friday. However, his breathing issue has increased. After some test, the drs believe he has pneumonia and has admitted him into the hospital late Thursday/Friday morning.
They are running additional test to try to find out the cause of the whizzing and other issues he is having. At this time, he will continue to stay on the clinical trial. I ask for prayer as we go through this and ask for prayer that God will lift dad’s emotions up as he is emotionally down. We know we have to climb the mountain before we see the view but my dad was really upset that he did not get to come home last night. We have complete faith in God and know He is healing my dad as we speak.
We will continue to update everyone through Facebook and dad’s web site, www.dac24.com
As of 6:25pm: Dad is being admitted into the hospital. After running test, the drs are puzzled. They think he may have pneumonia but not sure. We are not sure what this means for the clinical trial – on rather he will be allowed to continue. Please pray that he will be able to continue.
Well folks, Dad is in the ER for the same thing… he is having difficulty breathing. We have a gut feeling he has fluid on his lungs. He could possibly have air pockets on his lungs which is actually worse than having fluid on the lungs. At the time of me write this posting, Dad had an ER room, but no test were done yet. Whenever he goes to the ER, the trend is that MD Anderson admits him into the hospital. I could be wrong, but I would venture to say that’s where he’s going to be tonight. I hope and pray this isn’t going to screw his clinical trial up as MD Anderson has the power to take him off the clinical trial until he gets feeling better.
Then on top of it, Jennifer isn’t feeling very well. She had a pounding headache and got sick 3 times while going to MD Anderson. Mom called me up and I came and picked her up from MD Anderson. I got her home, gave her some toast, 7up, and a heating pad. Her headache is pretty while gone. So, she seems to be doing much better now.
I will update yall about Dad later on tonight…
Update as of 6:25pm: Dad is being admitted into the hospital. After running test, the drs are puzzled. They think he may have pneumonia but not sure. We are not sure what this means for the clinical trial – on rather he will be allowed to continue. Please pray that he will be able to continue.
Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!
—
Audrey Hepburn
The battle has begun and WE WILL WIN!!! Go Team C!!!!
“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.”
—
Willie Nelson