Tribute to Leonard
We all have heroes, be it an athlete, movie star or if your lucky someone you personally know. I am lucky, I spent the better part of 4 years boxing next to my hero, Leonard. But he really wasn’t a hero, he was and will always be a super hero to those lucky enough to have known him.
Could Leonard stop a speeding bullet, and was he more powerful than locomotive, I don’t know about stopping the speeding bullet, but more powerful than a locomotive, if Leonard ever hugged you, you know the answer to that question.
Leonard was not a traditional super hero, he was not some animated character from Hollywood dressed in outlandish costumes, fighting villains. He was a man that was delt a bad hand and did not fold, if any thing he doubled down. Double down on what you might ask, Life.
He put his head down and fought a courageous battle against Parkinson’s that inspired all that knew him Leonard never quit, complained, or stop fighting. He pushed on with the life he was given and spread joy wherever he went
Leonard was the bravest of the brave, he fought a very public battle with Parkinson’s and did so in a very Leonard way. Armed with a huge heart, Leonard made all of us believe that no matter what, we could find happiness in a world that none of us wanted any part of.
Seeing Leonard for the first time could be un-nerving for someone newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s. One guy, was overcome with fear when he came to boxing and saw Leonard for the first time. He was sobbing as Martie tried to console him. Martie came to me and asked me to talk to him. I asked him what was wrong. He said he felt so sorry for Leonard. I asked him to close his eyes and listen to Leonard. I then asked him what he heard, he said “Leonard laughing.” I told him, do not feel sorry for Leonard, you can feel bad for him, but some people, never find the joy Leonard experiences daily, feel sorry for those people.
I owe Leonard a great deal of thanks for being my role model. Leonard’s ability to fight, laugh, and love life despite the battle he faced taught me many lessons. The most important being, no matter what, there is beauty in every day, sometimes it is hard to find, but it is there, just look harder.
A few years ago at the movement fair they handed out supermen capes. I was having no part in that, I felt foolish and quite frankly did not understand how true the message of those capes represented until I saw my personal super hero Leonard buzzing around proudly wearing that cape. Here was a guy that had flat out been punched, kicked and mauled by Parkinsons celebrating his life with a disease that had taken so much from him, I found that amazing, and still do.
All super heroes have special powers and Leonard was no different. Nobody could dig deeper, laugh louder, and hug harder than Leonard, but his super power was the ability to see good in everything, even the enemy.
I could write a book of Leonard stories, but I won’t, but I will give you a couple of my favorites. Leonard loved to run and was competitive to boot, so every time Martie would have us run it would instantly turn into race. Martie would tell everyone to be careful and tell Leonard to slow down but Leonard would pick up the pace, laughing the whole way. He never fell, but I am sure it was scary to watch, but it was fun to compete in the Leonard games,
Back when I was coaching on Saturdays and we did a ton of mitt work and Leonard loved to hit the mitts. Just like anything else Leonard had one speed when punching mitts, a ten on a scale of ten, so when he got to me, I knew it was time to turn it up to eleven. He would be punching his brains out and I would be screaming my lungs out, yelling “IS THAT ALL YOU GOT”!!!!! He always dug a little deeper and found another gear, punching and laughing for 45 seconds. Nobody and I mean nobody put out more effort than Leonard, there was no limit to how deep he would dig to keep moving forward.
When my father passed away last year, I asked Leonard if he would give the grave side prayer. He accepted and did a beautiful job. At the grave site the two most important men in my life were together. My Father who raised me and Leonard who taught me the life lessons that get me through every day. I hope Leonard knew just how much that meant to me to have him there.
As most of you know, I had DBS surgery last June. My Surgery was successful, yet I felt conflicted and at some level I felt guilty because Leonard’s two failed attempts that quite possibly could have been a game changer for Leonard. I was personally devastated when the second attempt failed and could only imagine Leonard’s disappointment. Because of that I was very reluctant to talk about how successful my surgery was.
I am sure Leonard could sense that, because I have a big mouth and spoke very little about my DBS experience. One day Leonard approached me asking how I was doing? After talking a few minutes, he grabbed me and put me in a great big Leonard hug and said “I am so happy for you, I love you buddy.” That was Leonard’s way of letting me know it was ok, and meant the world to me.
At one of the memorial services we did, Leonard was going to give a prayer. His dyskinesia was very bad that day, he could barely stand or hold his notes. I asked him if he wanted me to read his notes, and he said I got this. With Gaylynn standing next to him and me standing behind him with my arms around him. Leonard stood there and fought through the prayer. To this day I think that might be the bravest most beautiful thing I have ever been a part of.
I will not miss Leonard as you think I might, I will miss his laugh, the back breaking hugs, and of course the “I love you buddies”. But Leonard’s fighting spirit lives inside all of us who fight the good fight. What makes Leonard a super hero is not his fight against Parkinson’s, it is how he lived with the disease. He showed the strength of 100 men and the courage of 1000 lions to battle PD like he did. He led by example and will be forever loved and missed, and never forgotten.
This is to Leonard; in truth I wish we would have never met or at least under different circumstances. But we both know the only way we ever meet is if we had something in common which we do, Parkinson’s brought us together and now it separates us again. Yet I am so much wiser and happier for having known you. It was almost worth having PD to have met you, I said almost! That’s all I got, love you buddy.