Christopher Loyd McGowan
September 28, 1977 - May 7,
2003
.
Chris grandfather passed away on August 21. They
are now together, no doubt talking about World War II and
the B-24.
Christopher Loyd McGowan was born on September 28, 1977 in
Arkansas Baptist Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas. Within a few hours after
his birth, the peditrician determined that he was a "blue baby," that something
was wrong with him that prevented oxygen from enriching his blood. A test later that evening revealed the doctor's
worst suspicion, that Chris was born with Transposition of the Great
Arteries, meaning that the main arteries connected to his heart were
reversed. The medical team ran a "balloon" through a vein to the inside
of his tiny heart and used it to rip out the wall separating the ventricals so
he could live. Two months later, on November 28, 1977
Chris underwent a Mustard Procedure which created baffles inside his heart that,
while his heart remained abnormal, allowed a sembelance of normal circulation. At the time of the surgery, he was the
youngest person to have had a Mustard Procedure at the University of Arkansas Medical Center. His mother and I were told that
the procedure would give him a life expectancy of approximately 17 years at least, and that medical science might allow
many other years. We were told to watch for any signs that he might
be having difficulty with his heart as he entered adolescence.
Chris had a normal childhood, except that he lacked stamina
and was unable to keep up with the rest of the pack. When he was in his
late teens we learned that he had only partial use of one of his lungs, due to
scarring from his surgery as an infant. Chris also suffered from frequent sinus headaches and respiratory problems. In the
late winter of 1999, when Chris was 21, he underwent two surgical procedures. The first was to correct the problem with his
diaphragm and allow increased lung capacity and the second was to clean
out his sinuses. Although he knew there was some risk, Chris agreed to the
surgery in the hope that it would allow him a better lifestyle.
Shortly after Chris had his initial surgery, we moved back
to Tennessee to be close to my family. Then, a little over a year later we
moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, his mother's home town where we spent the
next four years. In 1984 I accepted employment with a company
in Ashland, Kentucky and we moved there, living for most of the time in a house
in rural Greenup County. Chris graduated from
Greenup County High School, then came immediately to Galveston, Texas for a
summer course at Texas A&M, Galveston. His dream
was to become either an oceanographer or a marine engineer. I had recently moved
to the Houston area myself due to a company
transfer. During the six weeks or so that Chris was in Galveston, the two of us
spent many happy hours together, either at my
apartment or on day trips here and there around the area.
Chris' plans were to attend Texas A&M, Galveston and
get a degree, but when his mother moved to Virginia he lost his eligibility for
the disability scholarship that was to pay his tution. In spite of my
efforts to convince him that I could handle his education, he
elected to go to Virginia and enroll in school there. He enrolled
at Virginia Tech, initially as an engineering student, but after he had to
temporarily drop out due to severe medical problems, he changed his mind
and eventually got a degree in English.
In 2001 Chris began having severe headaches, and his mood
changed considerably. He had graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree
in English Literature and had moved back to Lynchburg, Virginia and gone to work
with his sister and brother-in-law in their tatto
and piercing parlor. But things didn't work out and he returned to Blacksburg,
Virginia where his sister and her boyfriend Jason still
lived in the little house Chris had spent his last years of school in. Over the
winter his headaches continued, and his behavior became
somewhat bizarre. He had undergone several CT-Scans, but nothing had shown up.
Finally he agreed to have an MRI and the results indicated signs of tumors in his brain. He had surgery at the
end of March 2002 to remove the tumor, and was told that "everything" had been removed. But when the surgeon said "everything," he
was referring to the part of the tumor that was exposed. Chris
was diagnosed with a pilocytic astrocytoma, a star-shaped tumor located in his
medulla-oblangata in his brainstem.
In September-October 2002 Chris underwent radiation
treatments at Wake Forest University. He was still plagued with severe
headaches that he was told came from the healing of the surgical scars.
He also suffered bouts of nausea. He also experienced adverese reactions to some of the medications he had been given for pain.
In January 2003 Chris spent a few days in the psychiatric ward at
Duke University hospital. Afterwards he was able to dispense with some of the
medications and he began driving. He hoped to get on
with his life, find a job and be a productive member of society.
But such was not to be. Sometime during the night of May
6-7, 2003 a merciful God looked down on one of his children and decided
to take him home. Chris went to bed and didn't wake up. He is now in his
heavenly home walking with his Heavenly Father and the Brother
who came to the earth two thousand years ago to die on the Cross of Cavalry so
that Chris and all who believe may have eternal
life.
Chris loved the military and he loved airplanes, particularly C-130s,
since his dad had flown them in Vietnam. This picture was taken at an air show at
Bluegrass Field, Lexington, Kentucky in the cockpit of a KY Air Guard
C-130B, one of the very airplanes I had flown missions in in Vietnam years before he was
born.
