This is a sad story, yes, but also about as uplifting as anything I've read.

[WilliamPitt]

Odd to find this breed of wistful storytelling in the obituaries, but there it was.

Rob Lutz; ex-paratrooper planned final 'mission'
By Carol Smith, Seattle Post-Intelligencer | June 4, 2007

SEATTLE -- Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Rob Lutz, a former Air Commando pilot, had less than 72 hours to live. A failing heart and kidneys left Mr. Lutz, 55, too sick to withstand an operation for a heart pump, let alone a heart transplant.

After nine weeks in intensive care at the University of Washington Medical Center, he was told by doctors that there was nothing left to do.

No, Mr. Lutz said. There was something.

A free-fall paratrooper whose steady nerves and fierce intelligence guided him through years of clandestine missions with Special Forces in the military, Mr. Lutz had one last special operation in mind. That it was nearly impossible didn't faze him. And so he set about executing a plan from his hospital bed.

At 10 a.m. on May 17, he told his doctors that they could take out the balloon pump that eased oxygen into his weakened heart but kept him flat on his back. Then he told them to remove the dialysis catheter in his groin that was unable to clear the nearly 50 pounds of fluid weighing on his heart. Next he told them to discontinue all but one medication, a move that he understood would hasten the inevitable.

Then he asked for a plane. There was nothing in life, except his wife, that Mr. Lutz loved more than flying.

(snip)

Mr. Lutz himself got on the phone to a pilot friend. Mau overheard him say something like: "I can't go Saturday. I'm dying today or tomorrow. I have to go today." Someone in the room chided him for being so demanding, which made everyone laugh. He had a great sense of humor, Mau said. And he made things happen.

Ed Hrivnak was the pilot who got the call. A friend from their days in search and rescue, he scurried to find a helicopter. Glacier Aviation in Olympia helped, producing a fueled-up R-22 two-seater that could be at Boeing Field in a matter of minutes.

(snip)

And so just after 7 p.m., as the sun was going down, Rob Lutz's heart lifted into the sky one last time.

"The air was calm, and there were light puffy clouds in the sky," Hrivnak said. "The sky was lit, and the mountains were lit. He just kept looking out the window."

Hrivnak and Lutz flew into the foothills of the Cascades with Mount Rainier dead ahead. They flew low through the valley of the Green River. They talked about life and letting go.

When Mr. Lutz landed, he just had a huge grin on his face.

He died a few days later.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2007/06/04/rob_lutz_ex_paratrooper_planned_final_mission/?page=2

[Joe Fields]

1. The sad part was that he was only 55 years old.

Much too young. Everything else was uplifting. My father got to go out the way he wanted. Not in some antiseptic hospital room.

[Droopy]

2. I was sitting here thinking what I would do

if I were ever in a situation when I knew when I was going to die. The first scenario that popped into my head involved an 18 wheeler, Nevada, prostitutes, a casino, and an American Experess card.

Then I thought about it a little more. In these times I think we should live our lives with more urgency. There are very important things we need to do if we are going to preserve this country and even the planet for future generations. We should live as if our days are numbered (and they truly are when you think about it) and try to leave behind a legacy that our children can be proud of. I don't want to be there on my death bed thinking about how I could have done more. I haven't been as involved with the democratic process as I could be. That is going to be changing.

[WilliamPitt]

3. If I had a week

I'd apologize to those I've hurt, say goodbye to everyone close to me, write one last book in a 24-hour-long Red Bull frenzy, buy out my bar for the night and get all my friends shithoused, divvy up my belongings among my friends, and spend my final moments on the dock by the lake at my mom's cabin, watching the sunset and drinking the best bottle of single-malt I could afford with whatever cash I had left.

[blondie58]

4. yeah, but it would be wise to seek a second opinion!!

I am referring, of course, to the man who was told that he had cancer and did the same thing, only he ran up his credit cards, destroyed his credit and then was told that they made a mistake- he was going to live!

I am a firm believer in living for the moment and enjoying the present. You never know what life is going to throw at you.

While driving to work on Saturday, one of the major streets was blocked off. I asked the police officer about it and he told me that there had been a fatal accident. I couldn't get it off of my mind all day- I was hoping that it was no one that I knew, as I work in that area. I found out later that it was this young man on one of my routes that I deliver mail to. He was in his mid thirties and had a wife and a little boy. THis is so terribly sad. It seems that he was just going out to the new Starbucks in the neighborhood and had been slammed by a truck.

I was told that I had a medical problem a few years ago- not fatal, but life altering. I have always had this philosophy, but it has become a little more intense. I don't want to have any regrets on what I didn't do. And being a Democrat, I naturally treat people well.