"The Glue that Held the Information Line Together."
"It was Joe’s personality that reached out, grabbed you, and made you family because everyone thought of him as family," Mary Radawski says. "Joe was the kind of guy where everyone was his best friend."
Radawksi is referring to Joe Meeks, a good friend of hers, who passed away from COPD in June.
But Meeks wasn’t a friend to just Radawski, he was a friend to the entire COPD community.
“Joe was very proud of accomplishments – anyone’s accomplishments. He had the most gigantic heart in the world, and would do anything for anybody,” Radawksi says. “His kids were so important to him; he had three children, Amanda, Jennifer and David.”
When he was first diagnosed with COPD, Meeks had to adjust to his new life. He soon made the decision to no longer be a victim and to help find a cure for COPD. He educated himself about his disease and joined listservs such as EFFORTS and COPD-International, which led him to the COPD Foundation. At the time, the COPD Foundation was a smaller operation, and the Foundation’s President, John Walsh, approached Meeks to ask him to help form the C.O.P.D. Information Line.
“When told by some of his listserv friends that such a line, staffed by volunteer patients working out of their homes, was impossible, Joe went ahead and did it. Joe was never the type of individual to shy away from a challenge,” says Bill Clark, Director of Outreach Programs for the COPD Foundation and a close friend of Meek’s. “Joe became a member of the organizing committee and one of the Line’s first scheduling managers. But in all honesty Joe became more than that – he became the glue that held the Line together.
“His inspirational and friendly notes attached to each week’s schedules became a mechanism for acknowledging and thanking associates for their hard work, making us aware of those who were sick,” Clark says. “[He] was instrumental in uniting the Line as a large extended family whose common bond was COPD. This wasn’t planned when we first contemplated the Line, but through Joe’s efforts, it became the reality, and those of us who remain will forever be grateful for the love for each other that we’ve come to share.”
Mary Ellen Oliver was another close friend of Meeks’ and met him for the first time on a COPD-International chat room.
“He found out that I worked for a college in San Bernardino, and I went to work very early in the morning. One morning, I got into work at 6 a.m., and at 6:15 my phone rang,” Oliver says. “I thought to myself, ‘Gee, that’s strange,’ and I picked it up and it was Joe. He just wanted to let me know that he was happy to meet me and
wanted to call and wish me a nice day.”
Oliver, who also worked with Meeks on the C.O.P.D. Information line, says he was a compassionate man who always wanted to help people.
Maggie Borger, another good friend, agrees.
“When Joe entered a room, he was powerful. He was the life of the party right away,” Borger says.
Borger and her husband Pete were both close to Meeks, and she says it’s been hard dealing with the loss of such a great friend.
“He had a way of bringing out the best in everybody, and we kind of considered the COPD group our new family. Everyone is suffering from the same things, and we’re all working together to help each other,” she says. “He was the heart and soul of the Information Line, no question about it. He was important to everyone.”
Borger says a question Meeks would always ask was, “What have you done for COPD today?”
Meeks was the ultimate COPD advocate until the very end.
“I talked with Joe the night before he died. We were to meet in Indianapolis [later that week] to attend the respiratory rally. I asked him if there was anything I needed to bring him. He responded, ‘Just bring yourself, kid, I want to see you one more time,’” Clark says. “I told him if that he was still in the hospital, I would come by and visit. He told me one way or another he was going home that week. As usual, Joe was right. He is home now. His impact on COPD will continue for generations, and when a cure is found, it will be because people like Joe were there and had a dream of what could be.”
Link
Print