Dads Obituary

Michael Everett Riley

Michael Everett Riley, 57, of Akron, Ohio, went home to be with the Lord after his short and heroic battle with Pancreatic Cancer on Nov. 27, 2007.

Michael was born on August 8, 1950 in Great Lakes, Ill.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Sharon Cloud and Ned Riley and brothers, Marc and Pat Riley. He is survived by his wife, Cathy of 37 years of marriage; daughter, Michaela; son, Micah; mother, Donna Riley; sisters, Neddra Crease, Sherry Devine, Brenda Carnathan, and America Koll; and brothers, Kerry and Brent Riley.

Michael was a Godly husband, father, son and brother. His prayer throughout his illness was "God please let my wife and kids use this terrible situation to witness to people and give glory to God. If one person comes to Christ because my Cancer, then this was worth it."

A private homegoing celebration will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, cards, letters and memorial donations may be sent to The Mike Riley Family, P.O. Box 9252, Akron, OH 44305.
(The Cremation Society of Ohio, 330-535-1012)Published in the Akron Beacon Journal on 12/1/2007.
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Our Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving :)
I want to take a moment, tell you about our Thanksgiving, and let you know about my God.
Today was probably one of the best days of my life. I woke up this morning and called my mom to see if Dad was up, and how he was feeling. She was somewhat upset and crying a little, and mentioned that he wasn't having a good day today. My Dad is at the point in his illness that you never know if it's going to be a good day, a bad day, or an okay day. His body and his nerves jerk a lot, it's hard to tell whether it's from the medicine, or from his liver shutting down and the bile going through his blood stream. Sometimes he hallucinates a lot of his conversations here lately, and his worst times are when he is sleeping. Well it appears to be that way to us, but according to the order of death, they are actually the most comfortable during these times. We were totally thankful that my Dad has pulled through and was here to spend Thanksgiving with us.
I went to my Grandma's house at noon where the rest of my family, (cousins, uncles, aunt and Grandma) were celebrating Thanksgiving, and my mom was gracious enough to cover this time and be with Dad while my brother and I went to see our Grandma and family and eat and give thanks. I left at 1:00 so that I could go and be with my Dad while my mom went over to my Grandma's. I came home, and I went into my Dads room, he was awake, and smiled when I walked in. His first words were..."I'm thankful." I said "you're thankful Dad, tell me what you're thankful for" my Dad proceeded to say..."I'm thankful for my two wonderful children, and my awesome wife." I instantly cried and told him that he has to stop being so sweet because I'm such a softie and giggled a little. I told him where I was, and that the family missed him and we were praying for him and thinking about him. I told him that I had one of my cousins saurkraut balls because those were his favorite. I said "Heidi asked if you'd eat a saurkraut ball, and I told her probably not", he sat up and said "let's go over, I'll eat one". I was amazed that my dad even had the strength to get out of the house, he hasn't in awhile.
The Lord gave us an amazing day with our dad. Our dad's body was calm, he wasn't jerking, his mind was clear and he knew who we were, who everyone was, and was a blessing to be around all day, and he had a wonderful time seeing his extended family at my Grandma's house. He actually stayed about an hour and a half, and came home, and was still awake, still smiling, still the same old dad I've known the past 27 years of my life. Other than his appearance, you would have never known he was even sick and dying.
That's my God. That's what my God, my Jesus does for his children. He is a giver, a lover, he sustains us, and gives us grace and mercy. The Lord gave us a perfect day today, and for that, on this Thanksgiving, I am thankful. Thank you Jesus. I will never forget today.
Oh yeah, Jamie and Micah cooked thanksgiving for our family at my parents house, it was yummy and such a blessing that my mom didn't have to cook this year. We are thankful for that too!
I am thankful for my friends today, thank you for the ones who called to share their love and concern. You mean the world to me!

Update: My Dad

Hello again Friends and Family!

I'm sorry it's taken so long to update you on my Father, but here goes.
My Dad again, proves to me, that I was right all along in life by considering him to be my Hero. I was just telling my mom the other day how amazed I am at the human body. It just baffles me that someone can be stabbed once, or have a gun shot would once, and pass away instantly. But someone like my dad can have a liver, solid as a rock full of tumors, and not die on the spot, but a stab would through the liver is fatal. I'll never understand. My good friend Debb Witt summed it up the best tonight, "When it's the good Lord's time to take ya, he'll do just that" and I guess maybe, that was there "time" to be taken.

My Dad has lost about 90 pounds since the end of August. He doesn't really eat much, maybe enough food to fill a dixie cup in a days time, and has been that way at least for 3-4 weeks. That's another thing that amazes me, the human body can live on a dixie cup size amount of food. I've seen it happen, my Dad is still alive because of that. He's so nauseous, my guess is from the medicine that he takes (on an empty stomach). He takes as much medicine in a day as he does food intake. You want so bad to force feed them, to make them drink water as much as possible...but you're not in there shoes, you don't know what it's like, or what they're going through. Foods my Dad use to love, he can't even be in the same room as. He sleeps a good 80% of the day, but when he's awake, he's a joy to talk to! He can still get around fairly well. The medicine and the lack of liver function has caused him to stray from conversation a little, and add his own little mad libs. In a way it hurts to see him talk the conversation he does, but in the same sense, it puts a smile to your face, because it's so random. His eyes are starting to turn yellow, as well as his skin. (Jaundice). His spirits are high, and he told me on Monday that he thinks (as well as my mom) that God is healing him. I hope and pray He is!

I'll make this paragraph another THANK YOU to the people who have donated their time, services, prayers, thoughts, laughter and hugs with our family. My brother and I were just now conversating on the phone about how lucky we are to have the family that we do, and the support to back us up. So many people have prayed for us, for strength and peacefulness, and we can truly feel your prayers, please continue to pray for Healing as well.

If you're wanting specifics on prayer requests, Pray that I, my brothers as well as my Mom's Faith won't be altered because of the circumstances that are going on right now that are beyond our comprehension. Pray for a clear mind for my Dad, pray for a stomach that isn't nauseous, that can accept food and nutrition. Pray for our futures, that are never in our control, pray that we remain in control by allowing God to have control. Pray for our finances, and pray that we can have more time to spend w/ him, as he needs our care more often now.

Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts.

We love you...very very very very very much.

Michaela, Micah and Cathy Riley (and) Mike Riley too!

Update: Dad

My dad is still home from the Hospital, and everyday he reassures the value of him being my Hero. He has his up's and down days, but for the most part is hanging in there. His relationship with the Lord is a blessing in our lives right now. He gives us hope, and wisdom, by watching the faith he has w/ our Lord during this rough struggle.

He started having a pain in his right side (liver) on Saturday night, I stayed the night at my parents house and slept in the living room, I know me being there doesn't help him physically, but it helps my mom, and him mentally. He's lost a lot of weight, and muscle mass, and has what he likes to call "Lunchlady Arms"..haha. He cracks me up! His legs are looking much better, they were very red and swollen, but not so much anymore. He is battling terrible dry and peeling skin, from the temperature of his 105 fever. Just like a really bad sunburn, his skin is peeling from the heat of the fever. Nothing that a little love, and lotion, and pampering can't fix! He soaks it up, he loves to have mom and I fuss over him, give him his shots, kiss his forehead, give him manicures, lotion him up, cover him up....and basically wait on him hand and foot! We don't mind...he'd do it for us!

Thank you for your continued prayers, and thank you again for your generosity in gifts of service and financial blessings. You have humbled our family, and it's because of your prayers, and serving the Lord, that our lives have been changed and touched forever.

Please continue to pray for my dad and for my family. It's the hardest struggle we've ever had to go through. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to spend w/ my dad on Thursday night, laying next to him, holding him, telling him that I will miss him, and the little things that I remembered about him growing up, and how special he is to me. I told him that I am glad he's saved, and know that he will be watching over us in heaven, and told him that God needs to step in now, and really be a Father to me, and he's done, just that. I love my dad, with all my heart. Please pray!

UPDATE

Hey Family & Friends!
As you know Dad got back from the Hospital on Monday, he's been home, today and yesterday he has been feeling AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! He's still very itchy, he thinks it's from the pain medicine. He will be cutting back on his pain meds because since he's decided to not take chemo, he won't be in as much pain.

Please keep him in your prayers and thoughts, so many have laid hands on him in prayer and my dad is feeling awesome! We can't thank you enough! Pray Pray Pray!
I haven't seen my dad in the mood to move around or get out of bed in over a month, so to see him perky and smiling and out of bed and moving around is a BLESSING!!!!
Thanks again! Will be keeping you posted!

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!

Update: Dad

Dad was suppose to come home from the Hospital on Friday the 28th of September. They decided to keep him as his infection in his body was not looking good.

We prayed over my dad last night as a family, one by one...Dad's coming home today! Actually he's already home as we speak!

Blood work looks good, and the ultra-sound of the blood clots in his lungs looked pretty good too! As I can't stress enough, keep praying, and THANKS so much for your prayers!!!!

Michaela

Even Ants...

Okay, I'm just going to blog about a little lesson I learned while outside earlier.
I was sitting outside at work on the concrete step enjoying the beautiful day that the Lord has given us, and saw this huge ant coming towards me. He started way back on the curb, a good 20 feet away from me, and ended up heading right towards me in no time at all, in human time, I'm sure he ran 5 miles in 45 seconds!

He was ugly...he was dark black, and had what looked like a bumble bee's hind end. So me...hating bugs in general tried to shew him away with the piece of plastic I was holding in my hand. I probably ripped a couple limbs off, and startled him abit, but was definitely trying to head him in the opposite direction of myself. He'd turn around and head right towards me. So I'd do it again, and again, until I finally stepped on him to put him out of his misery. I know this sounds horrible and brutal, but if you knew me, I actually broke my left foot over a centipede in my shower in 2005, so needlessly to say, I hate bugs!

It had me thinking about my dad, and struggles in life. Even though the ant was being brutally beaten, he was headed in a direction and he wasn't going back, no matter what pain or struggle came his way. It made me think about how my dad is in the Hospital, and is severely suffering with Pancreatic Cancer, and blood clots in his legs and lungs, and is in severe pain, and still, our family together Praises the Lord everyday. We might be faced with pain and suffering, but we don't let the Devil get in our way, of the direction we are headed daily in Praising the Lord and seeking him, and never looking back. Through pain, through sorrow, through sickness, through suffering, he is our path, he is our light. We are to follow him daily, head for him daily, and NEVER look back or let struggle get in the way!

John 14:6 - I am the way, the truth and the light, no one comes to the Father, except through me.