UPDATE 5/20/15: Jim has left us to go hit the highways to Heaven. Bless his heart. See link
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I was informed not too long ago that Jim's efforts to fight the massive brain tumor that hit November 2014 with aggressive chemotherapy is not faring so well. The tumor was 95% removed back in November, with a good prognosis for chemotherapy for the remaining 5%. However, the tumor has grown back so aggressively that it is overcoming the chemo efforts.
The part of the brain where the tumor affects is the motor area. As a result, Jim is unable to walk without assistance of a walker, and as a result, he cannot drive.
His health is deteriorating quickly as I write this. The effects of nausea from chemo coupled with the aggressive tumor affecting his brain are not leaving a good feeling within.
I wanted to create a thread for Jim to read, where each of us would write about some of the great moments we had. I don't want this to turn into a "my prayers are with you" thread, but rather something for us all to chime in on our times and experiences together.
We all know driving his E420 (The Red Plum) the 560 SEC (and most recently the DINAN-modded BMW 535i) was the lifeblood that kept him going.
His wife, Charla is an beautiful and amazing person, Jim found 'the one' just at the nick of time.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I'll start with my first memoir:
I first met Jim back in 2009 when I had made a deal with chadahar for a '89 560SEL (Sylvia). Jim came along, with Justin (iwrock) and Derek (dieselbenz?). I recall while Charlie and Justin came to greet me, Jim stayed aback, studiously checking out my '89 560SEC at the time. We introduced ourselves, shook hands.
Bear you, this was back when member mclare suffered his 560SEC fire under the fuse panel. Jim went a beeline straight for the fuse panel of my 560 and sure enough found a pack of leaves under the fuse panel. This is when he told me this was a big "no-no", and I later learned why.
Charlie took the 560SEL away, and from that moment, Jim and I exchanged emails and formed a spectacular friendship that over the years, would be virtually a roller coaster through all things Benz. We traveled places to look at cars for other members, even buying cars, made a few discoveries along the way, and I saw him through quite a few things in his life, as he did mine too.
During my marital split in 2012, Jim was a true friend.
One of my favorite moments is the time we went on a "duel" pitting my '84 500SEC AMG vs his '91 560SEC, which took us way past triple digit speeds, in which made Jim and Justin (iwrock) a true believer of the way a real tuned AMG drove.
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w126-s-se-sec-sel-sd/1430336-amg-w126-coupes-street-race-shoot.html
His 560SEC remains under repair for the wiring work. I will update on that in a separate thread.
Feel free to chime in with anything you'd like to say.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I was informed not too long ago that Jim's efforts to fight the massive brain tumor that hit November 2014 with aggressive chemotherapy is not faring so well. The tumor was 95% removed back in November, with a good prognosis for chemotherapy for the remaining 5%. However, the tumor has grown back so aggressively that it is overcoming the chemo efforts.
The part of the brain where the tumor affects is the motor area. As a result, Jim is unable to walk without assistance of a walker, and as a result, he cannot drive.
His health is deteriorating quickly as I write this. The effects of nausea from chemo coupled with the aggressive tumor affecting his brain are not leaving a good feeling within.
I wanted to create a thread for Jim to read, where each of us would write about some of the great moments we had. I don't want this to turn into a "my prayers are with you" thread, but rather something for us all to chime in on our times and experiences together.
We all know driving his E420 (The Red Plum) the 560 SEC (and most recently the DINAN-modded BMW 535i) was the lifeblood that kept him going.
His wife, Charla is an beautiful and amazing person, Jim found 'the one' just at the nick of time.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I'll start with my first memoir:
I first met Jim back in 2009 when I had made a deal with chadahar for a '89 560SEL (Sylvia). Jim came along, with Justin (iwrock) and Derek (dieselbenz?). I recall while Charlie and Justin came to greet me, Jim stayed aback, studiously checking out my '89 560SEC at the time. We introduced ourselves, shook hands.
Bear you, this was back when member mclare suffered his 560SEC fire under the fuse panel. Jim went a beeline straight for the fuse panel of my 560 and sure enough found a pack of leaves under the fuse panel. This is when he told me this was a big "no-no", and I later learned why.
Charlie took the 560SEL away, and from that moment, Jim and I exchanged emails and formed a spectacular friendship that over the years, would be virtually a roller coaster through all things Benz. We traveled places to look at cars for other members, even buying cars, made a few discoveries along the way, and I saw him through quite a few things in his life, as he did mine too.
During my marital split in 2012, Jim was a true friend.
One of my favorite moments is the time we went on a "duel" pitting my '84 500SEC AMG vs his '91 560SEC, which took us way past triple digit speeds, in which made Jim and Justin (iwrock) a true believer of the way a real tuned AMG drove.
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w126-s-se-sec-sel-sd/1430336-amg-w126-coupes-street-race-shoot.html
His 560SEC remains under repair for the wiring work. I will update on that in a separate thread.
Feel free to chime in with anything you'd like to say.