My Only Son, Packy: "An Odyssey and a Legacy" by C. David La Belle (English) Har

Description: My Only Son, Packy by C. David La Belle Estimated delivery 3-12 business days Format Hardcover Condition Brand New Description Above, on the books cover, you see a self-portrait that Packy, an aspiring artist, painted. The shaded blue area around his mouth was his way of muting the part of his being that was forever changed by the accident described below. In 1966, at two years old, Packy, born David Patrick La Belle, nicknamed Packy by his father, crept under the kitchen sink and ingested the caustic lye, Drano, permanently disfiguring his face and damaging his throat, esophagus and stomach. After undergoing numerous surgeries and other rigorous medical procedures for most of his childhood, he gradually recovered his ability to breathe, eat, and talk. And for the first time in medical history, after four years of unnatural feeding and breathing, Packys respiratory and digestive systems were operated on and restored to functional condition. In addition, Packys family achieved, through litigation, groundbreaking consumer safety efforts by forcing the makers of Drano to furnish all of its hazardous products with safety tops. Packys parents and sisters stood patiently by him, assisting as much as they could, as he struggled to overcome the obstacles placed in the way of his having a normal childhood: at eight years and all of 35 pounds, he joined Little League and played with a vengeance; at seventeen after his junior year of high school he earned admission to Cooper Unions scholarship art program. At no time, did Packy quit trying. Packy not only survived but transformed his physical pain and mental anguish into life-affirming ambitions to become a promising New York painter, with an enormous zest for life, travelling to exotic locales, including Africa, where he was married. Just when it appeared that providence was finally smiling upon Packy at the age of 23, a cruel twist of fate ended his life in mystery and conflict. Suddenly on November 3, 1988, he passed away, as if God had called him back from his odyssey. But six long years after Packy had passed on, his father began to question the circumstances of his death. Inconsistent accounts of what had happened that night provoked Dave, Packys father, to investigate. Finally able to summon his courage, Dave began the mind-boggling process of uncovering the truth behind his sons death. My Only Son, Packy is a fathers story of the turbulent odyssey of his son. Like the Odyssey, it is a story told out of love, regret, pride, admiration, anger, frustration and longing. And while it is a story about Daves son, Packy, it is also Daves story: a story about a father who twice is faced with the idea and then the reality of losing his son. Its also a story about a father, who after his marriage fails, believes as a Catholic that he can never marry again. Its the story about how he falls in love again and is forced to reconcile not only the inconsistencies in his Churchs dogma, but also the contradictions of his own faith. Its the story of how, as a remarried father, he must wrestle with the built-in conflicts of his new family versus his old family. Its the story about how a man, by force of circumstance, is challenged to transform his relationships with his grown children, from paternal disciplinarian, to friend, to some tricky balance of the two. On the day after Packy was waked, Dave ran the New York Marathon, an event that hed been in training for, for over a year. In deference to and in the spirit of his sons sense of adventure and triumph over adversity, Dave ran and finished the New York Marathon in 7 hours 12 minutes. That run was for Packy, as much as this book is for Packy: both are testaments to Daves enduring love for his all too human son and his commitment to sharing his story with others -- parents, sons and daughters -- so that they too may be inspired as much by Packys determination to live, Author Biography C. David La Belle has been in the Information Technology field for 46 years. He has worked with major corporations such as, International Business Machines, Columbia Broadcasting Systems, Manufacturers Hanover Trust, and New York Life Insurance Company. He is the author of Finding, Selecting, Developing and Retaining Data Processing Professionals Through Effective Human Resource Management (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984). He is presently retired and living in Lakewood, NJ with his wife, Colette. Details ISBN 0759607346 ISBN-13 9780759607347 Title My Only Son, Packy Author C. David La Belle Format Hardcover Year 2001 Pages 180 Publisher AuthorHouse GE_Item_ID:8683083; About Us Grand Eagle Retail is the ideal place for all your shopping needs! With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and over 1,000,000 in stock items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! Shipping & Delivery Times Shipping is FREE to any address in USA. Please view eBay estimated delivery times at the top of the listing. Deliveries are made by either USPS or Courier. We are unable to deliver faster than stated. International deliveries will take 1-6 weeks. NOTE: We are unable to offer combined shipping for multiple items purchased. This is because our items are shipped from different locations. Returns If you wish to return an item, please consult our Returns Policy as below: Please contact Customer Services and request "Return Authorisation" before you send your item back to us. Unauthorised returns will not be accepted. 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Price: 23.32 USD

Location: Fairfield, Ohio

End Time: 2025-01-21T03:27:20.000Z

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