Sox fan Paul Szantyr still battling to get his book published
By
Rick Green
on April 14, 2009 8:05 AM


Die-hard Red Sox fan Paul Szantyr, battling ALS, wrote the other day to remind me that he's still working on getting his memoir published. I wrote about Szantyr last year, when he was in a rehab hospital and hopeful of returning to his home ini Thomaston.

He's still in the hospital, still a Sox fan and still hoping to get home.

Here's now Szantyr describes his situation in his book:

Nobody EVER thinks it will happen to them!

It's true, isn't it? We're just not wired to think that way. Nobody leaves their house in the morning thinking, 'Today, I just might come down with an incurable illness, so I better make these next few hours count for something.' We are saddened when we hear that it's happened to someone else that we know -it's always the other guy, but me? Naw, not me!

Yet, here I sit, almost 9 years since the first symptoms of Lou Gehrig's disease initially presented themselves, and I have a lap-full of regrets to ponder with no means of resolution on my immediate horizon. In my on-going conversations with the Almighty, I often ruminate about how He could trust me to get my priorities right now; that if I could get my health back, I wouldn't squander opportunities to be a better Christian, a better husband, or even a better friend. I know it's still not too late, but one of my fears is that if I suddenly become that person now, God will just think that I'm trying to get into heaven.

We talk by email, via the computer screen and cursor Szantyr manipulates with eye movements.

He's in touch with his agent and publishers considering his book. He hopes "the revenues from the book will get me to my home in Thomaston."



http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2009/04/paul.html