John's Last Day

From Gary Pina, Aug 21, Ft. Worth, Texas

I had lunch with John GM Friday about 1 p.m. I knew I couldn’t make it to the night event, so I told him that I would call Friday when I woke up. “Where are you?” he said, and I told him I was on my way. I could tell by his voice that he was glad I was coming.

When I got to the hotel, I went upstairs to room 358. The third floor is L-shaped and his room was the last one on the left. I noticed a lot of students mingling in the lobby, and as I rode up the elevator, one of them told me that they were medical students there for an exam. I knocked on the door.

He said he wasn't feeling that well, but he wanted some fruit, and wanted to go to CVS. We went to a Chinese Buffet place on the other side of 635. He had a slow, deliberate walk, and wore dark shorts and sunglasses.

He ate a plate of fruit while I filled my plate with Chinese food.

We talked about people, the Hispanic Communicators and NAHJ. He asked about people at the S-T. “And how was John, you know, John, I can’t remember his last name,” he said. I answered that John Silva was doing fine. John was like that, always asking how everybody was doing.

He said he was on the C list for heart transplants. He also said that the heart surgery he had last week went well. And he thought the medical staff at Medical City was great. They cared about him.

He asked me to call Telemundo or Univision to see if they wanted to chronicle his life as he waited for heart transplant. He said Hispanics don’t donate their organs. He wanted to let people know about what he’s going through. It was a good story, and something that needed to be told. I told him I would ask the news directors at both stations.

Then we went to CVS, where he picked up a few items to help his stomach. I dropped him off at the hotel and then I left to work.

Later, as I was writing the e-mail to Martha Kattan, the news director at Univision Channel 23, I got the call.

John had died.