Eulogies
- John
Korzak Eulogy |
Unger Family Eulogy
Unger
Family Eulogy
As Read By John Korzak
Greg's family asked me
to share some thoughts about Greg with you. Anyone who knew Greg was
touched immediately by his friendly mannerisms, his great sense of
humor and his infectious laugh.
Early on in his life, Greg
did quite well and was a pretty active boy; he even played little
league baseball and was quite good at it. Greg loved animals. He used
to dog sit for our family and he always had a couple of cats of his
own. Recently Greg wrote up his "To Do" list and on it he had, "Feed
the raccoons." He would put scraps of food out on the deck for the
raccoons at night. He seemed to have a very special bond with all
animals Most recently, he nursed his cat, BoBo, back to good health,
and would brush him three times per day.
Greg's passion, though,
was Red Wing Hockey. He loved his Red Wings and would go to as many
games as he could wiggle out of us. Greg collected all of the Red
Wing Trading Cards. He and his buddy, Duane, would spend countless
hours at Gibralter Trade Center going through each and every hockey
card ever made. Greg's bedroom was a maize of sport memorabilia, trading
cards and every single newspaper article ever written on Red Wing
Playoffs. Greg was at the game when Sergei Federov scored his five
goals.
But as most of you know,
Greg became sicker as he grew older and spent more and more time in
the hospital. His familiar cough and twice-a-day treatments became
a way of life for Greg. Greg and his family switched hospitals from
Children's in Detroit to Mott Children's at U of M in Ann Arbor. It
was there that Greg's doctor suggested that we look into a fairly
new procedure - a double lung transplant. This was all new to Greg
and his family, which started a new stage in Greg's life. Greg's family
was told that they would need to begin some fund raising in order
for Greg to receive his transplant. I'm sure most of you here participated
in Greg's fundraisers to become known as "COTA
for Greg." Thirty-two fund raising events were held and COTA for
Greg raised nearly $200,000 for Greg and his family. His family witnessed
an outpouring of love that they have never experienced before. COTA
for Greg developed a life of it's own and it was because of all the
love and support you gave to Greg and his family.
When Greg was asked early
on about the fundraising, he said, "Sure, as long as nobody finds
out about it." This started a new life for Greg. For one, it brought
his disease out into the open, and turned this shy, timid, boy into
a very outgoing boy. As you know, after some complications, Greg received
a second lung transplant and a second chance of life. Greg came home
from St. Louis where he had his transplants and started to live the
life his family dreamed he could live. On the back of your remembrance
card is a list of some of the things that Greg was able to do
after his transplants. He was able to roller blade, bike ride, play
basketball, street hockey and much more. This last year in particular
was, by far the best year of his life. He got very sick about a year
ago and he was able to fight back and make a full recovery. Greg's
family believes that God gave Greg this last year of great life before
He took him home. Greg worked as a host for Damon Ribs for the past
three years and was a full-time college student at Schoolcraft College.
He truly enjoyed doing both of these things. He would even go up to
Damon's on his night off just to "hang out." The people at work kind
of adopted Greg and watched out for him. This was Greg's place where
he could be "normal."
Greg had a tremendous relationship
with two of his best friends - his brother and his sister. The relationship
that Greg had with Kris and Jamie can't be described and only they
could tell you of this special bond they had. There was so much love
between them and it was obvious. Greg's love touched everyone. Everyone
loved Greg. He was a cool and terrific kid. The amount of love that
Greg and his family received over this past month up at the Intensive
Care Unit at U of M was tremendous. The nurses of 5 West and the doctors
who took care of Greg are extremely caring people and Greg's family
will be forever grateful.
(At this time, Kris, Jamie,
Barb and Bill each got up and shared some particular things and events
about Greg. It was very touching.)
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