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Due to all his time in the hospital, and because of his already frail state, it was hard for the staff to justify letting him go home, since the risk of further broken bones was already greater than normal. However, all the bed rest that he was getting was not helping him recover, and even leading to further muscular atrophy, which tended to have its own vicious cycle of events.

It was during the second week of bed rest that the first clot appeared, this one in his right leg. The doctors immediately put him on blood thinners, since the risk of it hitting his lungs could have severely complicated matters. Yet it was during the third week, that Grandpa had his first pulmonary embolism, when a clot did succeed in getting to his lungs. It was the pain in his chest that gave the first warning sign. The second was when he started to cough up blood.

Stephen was particularly distraught when Grandpa started getting worse instead of better. He found himself continually having to put on a brave face, despite the jokes his grandfather always cracked to get through tough situations.

"They're just making sure they get their money's worth out of me," he joked, before couching heavily into a tissue. Stephen grabbed a second one to offer to him, which he took in a hurry, continuing a particularly nasty cough. By the time he was done, Stephen could see flecks of blood in the rolled up tissue.

Yet, the entire family gathered around to support him. It wasn't uncommon for two or three of them to be there at any one time, whether it was Theresa Willow dropping in on her breaks, or Aunt Linda bringing in coffees in the morning. Grandma barely left his side, and Stephen would have swore she spent the nights in the hospital as well, sleeping in the nearby chair just to attend to her husband.

Despite all the family support, the well wishes, and the positive thoughts, the family began to accept the inevitable when the stroke hit during the fourth week. Quickly paralyzing most of his body, it was clear he was beginning to suffer. To make matters even worse, his organs were starting to show serious distress, almost to the point of shutting down. It was almost to the point that his body was accepting that its time was up, and beginning to throw in the towel.