Hi everyone . . .
Another night just getting home from the hospital. It was a very long day of ups and downs. Both Amy and I are absolutely exhausted and drained.
We started out with Manuel taking a serious turn for the worse. It did not look like my brother in the hospital bed when I saw him this morning at 6:50, and after calling all the family, and running to the office for just a few things, I went back to the hospital. We had a long conversation with the doctor in charge, and because of how bad his condition had become, we agreed to a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). He kept going downhill, and the doctor told us that if he were not only 42, they would have advised the family to give up by now. He also quoted a Latin phrase to us, where there is breath there is hope, and it was in God's hands now. His blood pressure had almost bottomed, his heart rate was up, and he was once again running a fever, and bleeding.
The nurse and the doctor kept pumping fluids and blood into him, and hoping for the best. The surgeon came and cleaned the wound again and tried to find the source of bleeding.
We had resigned ourselves to losing him, and decided that it was time for his most beloved students to have the opportunity to see him and have some closure if they wanted to. Thus began a long parade of wonderful kids telling him how much they loved him and needed him. Black, white, middle class and poor, they came to give him their love.
Over these days I have heard many stories that have both surprised and comforted me. How he gave two women $100 to buy a young man suitable dress clothes for the state speech tournament. How he gave each kid at state $50 out of his own pocket to spend at the state speech tournament. How he paid for one of his poorer students Prom dresses so she could have a nice dress for the prom. And how he brought a young, shy, and friendless African American boy out of his shell to become a State Speech qualifier.
I told them all how much he loved them, and how my mom always taught us that children came first. Since he had no natural children of his own, they were his children.
Each one of them came and cried and tried to comfort him at his bedside. By afternoon, he miraculously started to turn around and his numbers all got better. When I left tonight, his blood pressure, although aided by medication, was where it should be, and while he still had a fever, his chances had improved. So I left him with hope.
I truly believe the prayers and love of those children have let him live another day. I am overwhelmed and awed by what transpired, and have greater faith in the power of human hope and love with God's grace.
Good night everyone, felt I owed you an update, one that helps me cope too.
Your post yet again made me cry. What an amazing man your brother is. I continue to pray for continued improvement.
until he and WE get back from dinner!!!) 
