IGX

BobW, or Bob Wanamaker, or The Thinking Strongman died on Oct 31, 2018. I had lost contact with him in early October of this year. He was a member here, if not all that active.

Rest in peace, Bob.

I remember him well. And will continue to.

PBUH

Shit it's a little startling that he's only the second poster here (I think) to pass away. Does anybody know what happened

Grandpa's Spells wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2019 2:22 am Shit it's a little startling that he's only the second poster here (I think) to pass away. Does anybody know what happened

Bob's decline started with a condition called DISH, where his connective tissue was slowly calcifying and turning into bone. Unless he regularly aggressively worked on range of motion, it would rapidly decline. DISH alone would have eventually strangled him, as the connective tissue in his ribs solidified and blocked his lungs from expanding. Then, a few years back, he developed a rare form of blood cancer, Myelofibrosis.

Ultimately, it was this that probably killed him, by enlarging his spleen due to malformed red blood cells, and creating a very high blood pressure that burst varices in his esophagus. This almost killed him once, they were cauterized and then tied off, but his physician told him the ties wouldn't last very long and he had to be wary the burst varices again.

He was feeling very poorly when I talked to him last, and the potential to drown in his own blood weighed heavily on his mind.

I spoke with Bob last in September. We emailed fairly regularly; but that slowed as things worsened. He was spending most of his time sleeping and his good days were severely difficult.

I miss him. I spoke with Sharon after he passed. We talked for a good bit about him and other things.

He had a very rough past few years after the Dish debilitated him, then the enlarged spleen took away his will. I miss him. He was brilliant. I miss his analysis of issues, injury recovery, and thoughts on life in general. I always told him "on his terms, no matter what."

Thanks for Sharing Shaf. I wasn't sure what the best way to go about letting others know.

Rest easy BobW.

RIP Bob

Really Big Strong Guy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:55 pm I spoke with Bob last in September. We emailed fairly regularly; but that slowed as things worsened. He was spending most of his time sleeping and his good days were severely difficult.

I miss him. I spoke with Sharon after he passed. We talked for a good bit about him and other things.

He had a very rough past few years after the Dish debilitated him, then the enlarged spleen took away his will. I miss him. He was brilliant. I miss his analysis of issues, injury recovery, and thoughts on life in general. I always told him "on his terms, no matter what."

Thanks for Sharing Shaf. I wasn't sure what the best way to go about letting others know.

I talked to him pretty frequently, but after he dropped off, I never had a way to contact his wife. You are absolutely correct, Bob was super smart and very good at cutting right to the chase of the topic and hand, and often the conversations would expose stuff I knew but didn't want to acknowledge.

I know he took deep pleasure in talking to his friends, even at the end, and in his dogs. I hope that he went painlessly and quickly, but like you hinted, him ending his own life was not out of the question.

RIP, Bob.

He did not grease the groove.

Most of my conversations (online) with Bob were about dogs. Ironically, his name came up in my FB memories celebrating the adoption of a shelter dog I was working with on the same day I learned of his passing.

RIP brother.