My Superhero

The biggest and best quality in a superhero is to be selfless, to give up all your wants and needs for another or bigger purpose. Growing up and to this present day, I have had the privilege of being able to witness what a superhero is in real life: my father. He would work long hours and sleep for three or four hours and go do it again. The most amazing thing he did was find the time to be a father to three children. As much as he felt obligated to the patients he saw on a daily basis, he felt a higher calling to be a father.

He is my coach, best friend, mentor, and my father. The world came to an abrupt stop in October 2013 when he was diagnosed with ALS. Luckily, if you can think like he does, this dreaded disease is only slowly taking away his motor functions. He is confined to a wheelchair and needs assistance to do everyday things that we take for granted, but he is still the same superhero to me. Even when I have had to be his “Robin” and help pick him up from the floor because his legs will not do what his mind is telling them to do, he is still the same superhero to me.

I would tell him that this is not fair because if there is anyone in this world in my eyes that did not deserve this disease it was him. His reaction, “This is life. It is not easy, but we are a strong family.” He made and molded us into a strong family. He laid the foundation through his faith and selflessness. Whatever the future holds, he will always be my superhero. He has taught me more in my 33 years than I could ever imagine. If I can be half the husband and father he is, I will consider myself a success because as you know, superheroes are not born everyday.

By Finley Turner