Saying Goodbye To A Friend

[Johnny Stew]

I found out late Friday night that a very dear online friend of mine (we've known each other for over 7 years) passed away. His name was Wyatt and he was only 38 years old.
He lost his hearing when he was nearly 5 years old, to Scarlet Fever (his father was in the military and the family was stationed in Central America at the time), and he was prone to sudden, unexplainable and untreatable fevers ever after that. He's been in the hospital dozens and dozens of times, and has lapsed into comas several times. But he always fought and he always got better. But this time his body couldnt fight anymore. His heart had become too weakened.

Wyatt had a rough life even beyond losing his hearing... he lost both of his parents in a car accident when he was only 17, and had no other living relatives. He also endured other tragedies, including suddenly losing his best friend to a brain aneurysm last year.
But he never let anything stop him from living and he never let any of it make him angry or bitter. He had an incredible spirit and was deeply compassionate. He did a lot of volunteer work, whether it was something "small-scale" like helping elderly neighbors on his block, or something "large-scale," like traveling to help hearing-impaired victims of Hurricane Katrina. And every Thanksgiving he would make tons of Turkey sandwiches to take to the homeless people in Topeka, Kansas, where he lived.
Even in his final hours, his boyfriend told me that his thoughts were of his friends and his two dogs.

But Wyatt wasn't perfect, and he'd be mad at me for not saying that. He never wanted to be pitied or to be treated differently or for anyone to put him on a pedestal. He hated when people treated him like a "special person," and not, simply, as a person who had faults and flaws. He'd be the very first person to tell you that he drank too much, smoked too much, and had a stubborn streak a mile long.

It's funny how, with the internet as such a huge communication tool now, you can feel so close to someone without ever having met them. He and I shared thoughts, fears and secrets that neither of us have ever shared with those around us. We both deeply cherished our friendship and loved each other very much. Two "misfits" who forged a bond across hundreds of miles.

My heart is broken and I'm going to miss him so much... I'm going to miss seeing his smiling face on webcam, hearing his laughter through my speakers, and just knowing that the world was a better place as long as he was in it.

Thanks, everyone, for letting me talk about him.