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85 YEARS OLD !!! PULL THE PLUG,
IF I GOT DANDRUFF AT 85 YOU CAN PULL MY PLUG
LOL.
Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do!
Billy
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 9:47
AM
Subject: [QUAD-L] Turn off life support
better than being quad
Fall
at restaurant kills LaPorte man
March 10, 2005
By Stan
Maddux / Post-Tribune correspondent
MICHIGAN CITY � After finishing
his meal at a Michigan City restaurant, Stanley Stepanek, 85, got up to use
the restroom. But he chose the door leading to the basement and tumbled down
the stairs.
The retired mail carrier will be buried Friday.
He
died Monday after his wife of nearly 62 years, Sophia, gave permission to shut
off his life support.
�They told me he would never, ever come home again and
that he would be like Christopher Reeve. It was a
big decision I had to make,�� she said.
Saturday, the Stepaneks drove to Michigan City to
run errands and pick up a few things.
Before heading back home to
LaPorte, Stepanek said they decided to stop at Charlie�s on East Barker
Avenue, one of their favorite restaurants.
After finishing his meal
and having a glass of wine, Stepanek said her husband got up to use the
restroom.
He unknowingly opened the door to the basement and began
fishing around for the light switch, she said.
�All I heard was 'I
can�t find the light� so I told the waitress to show Stan the light,��
Stepanek said.
He then fell down the stairs.
LaPorte County
Coroner Dr. Vidya Kora said the cause of death was a broken neck that resulted
in cardiac arrest. He also had a damaged spinal cord, he said.
Stepanek was resuscitated by paramedics at the scene then put on a
breathing machine at St. Anthony Memorial Health Centers, Kora said.
�It was a freak accident. A very unfortunate accident and my heart
goes out to him and his family,�� Kora said.
Stepanek only had a trace
of alcohol in his system, Kora said.
At the advice of his insurance
company, restaurant owner Charlie Morgan said he would not discuss the
accident.
He did say the restrooms are clearly marked.
�It was
just a tragic accident and that�s about all I can say about it,�� Morgan said.
Despite being steady customers at the restaurant, Stepanek said she
could not recall her husband ever using the restroom there, so he probably
didn�t know exactly where he was going.
�We are very, very big
believers in God and we feel that this was his time. There�s nothing we can
do. I will miss him terribly,�� Mrs. Stepanek said.
Stepanek was a
mail carrier in the LaPorte area for 38 years until his retirement in the late
1970s.
Michigan City Police Detective Bureau Commander Lt. Tom Howe
said there will be no further investigation into the death.
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