Helmut Alwin Fischer

Well, for those that don't know, my father-in-law, Helmut Fischer, passed away on Wednesday, August 20th. It was very sudden and unexpected. He was at a store with his wife and a grandson and didn't feel well, so he went back to the car, which was not unusual for him. 10 or 15 minutes later when Shirley and Jayden came out to the car, they found him looking like he was just sleeping in the car, but the door was open. Shirley tried to wake him, but couldn't. He was still breathing, though, so she called 911, who got there fairly quickly since a fire station was literally across the street. They loaded him and headed for the hospital. At first, they suspected that it was just a sugar issue, but not long after they got him in the ambulance, he flat lined and they had to start CPR. Shirley had to drive separate since she had Jayden with her, and when she got to the hospital and saw they were giving him CPR, she had to tell them that he has a living will and and do not resuscitate order. By this time, they had already shocked him and been doing CPR for a while, and they told her he wasn't responding to any of it anyway. So, just like that, he was gone! Ironically, I had just picked up Rob for lunch when we got the first call from his mom telling us that he had passed out and was on his way to the hospital. We told her to keep us updated, and we talked about making sure we went up after work if he was still in the hospital. Rob went into a store, and a couple of minutes later I got a call from my sister-in-law who got to the hospital before both the ambulance and Shirley, and so she saw them giving him CPR as they unloaded him. She called me and said it wasn't looking so good and I told her we would head straight up. I went and got Rob and we headed straight for the hospital, but only about 10 minutes later we got the call from Rob's mom saying he hadn't made it. It made for a very shocked, long drive! All of Rob's siblings came to the house that day, and we have been getting together everyday at his parents house since it happened. The viewing was on Friday night, and yesterday was the funeral. We miss him so very much! I miss him. We had the unique situation of living with him for 5 years of my marriage, and in that time also loosing our own son, who Helmut had a very close relationship with. Helmut has always been so kind and sweet to me, and he was one of our biggest supporters after loosing Caydin. He is a wonderful "papa" to his grandchildren, and was Isaac's special play buddy as well! Whenever I told Isaac we were going to papa and grandma's house, he'd start singing songs about papa and just get so excited! I think one of the hardest things for me is knowing that my kids most likely will hardly, if at all, remember him themselves, yet Helmut loved them so very, very much! I want to make sure all my kids know how much their papa loved and adored them! I am so happy for Helmut, though. He had been in chronic pain for a long time, and did not want to go in a slow, painful, dragging way! And, he has missed Caydin so much! What a joyful reunion they must have had! Right after we found out what happened, I actually daydreamed that maybe he went to the car, looked over, and there was Caydin, and he just got to go with him! Helmut, we love you and will miss you!!!