Lean on Me
A Caregiving Story

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[GREG WYSZNSKI]
When I wake up in the morning,

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I don’t know
if he’s gonna be alive or gone.

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Because the diseases that he has,

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they really affect
every part of his body.

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I go down and see his chest rise

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and I can breathe a sigh of relief.

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Here's your med water.

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Let’s get some sunlight
in this picture, huh, CoRy?

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- [CoRy WYSZNSKI] Yeah.

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Here you go.

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My mom and dad were in huggy
feely people.

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They weren't that way,

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my Dad, he just never said
I love you.

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You ok?

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- No.

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I’m dizzy.

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- Dizzy?

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As far as, for me.

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I love my son.

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He's the best thing
that ever happened to me.

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I was there from day one.

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I cut the cord.

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He turned his head
and he looked right at me.

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I’ll empty this for you.

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I mean, I’ve done a lot of drugs
but that was like the best trip.

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This is CoRy's life up here.

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He's just been,
you know, quite a character

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through the years.

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Here's CoRy,
he graduated summa cum laude.

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He was doing so good.

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His star was starting to rise.

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When he got sick I was devastated.

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Everything got cut out of his life.

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I told him, get rid of
your apartment, get rid of your car.

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So, he moved in with me.

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- Thank you.

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From then on, I was his caregiver.

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Thank you.

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Yeah.

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My dad is the helping hand

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through every hard day that I have,
and he’s also

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the guiding light for every good day
that I try to obtain.

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Can I have a waffle?

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Yeah, you can have a waffle.

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My dad does everything

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so that I can just focus on living.

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Here’s your knife and fork.

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- Thank you.

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My own body has become the enemy.

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So I'm fighting myself every day.

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It's exhausting being me.

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I lost everything,

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but then some things
have just become so much stronger

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and blossomed.

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Kind of like my relationship
with my dad.

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Wanna grab a seat?

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- Yeah.

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Want to play Wordle?

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- Mhm.

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Just the blank screen.

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- What?

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Let me see.

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I can see that it’s aged him,

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and that hurts.

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- Just got three.

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Three yellow?

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Three yellow and a green.

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- It's a painful realization
that I'm the thing

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that's aging him faster.

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- I got an appointment to see Dr. He in two weeks.

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- Which ones He again?

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- He’s the one for my,
uh, the spot on my lung.

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- Oh, right. Right.

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Yeah.

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- There’s been times where I’ve
needed to take care of him.

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He’s had many surgeries.

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Then I’m his caregiver.

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Sometimes, you know, when he's,
like, down for the count,

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if he says it's OK,
then I'll go down and paint.

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People tell me, they say,

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‘Well, why don't you hire somebody
so you can have a life?’

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I say, ‘I have a life.’ You know,
CoRy is my number one priority.

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And everything else
just kind of falls into place.

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He’s my son.

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I’d do anything for him.

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I’d take a bullet for him.

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My dad and he's not just like he’s
not just like a best friend.

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He's...

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He's like a soul brother.

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We’ve saved each other's lives though,

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multiple times.

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There’s no cure for what he has

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and I don’t know

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how long he’s got, you know.

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I don’t know how long I got,

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but I know I got today

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and so does he.

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So, I make sure that we say
I love you

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every day.

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Every night we say a little prayer,

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Ya know?

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And then:

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I love you dad.

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I love you too, CoRy.

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Good night.