Author: Aaron Apollo Camp

It is with a great sense of sadness that I announce that, this afternoon, my father, Franklin Paul Camp, Sr., died suddenly in his garage. He was 72 years of age at the time of death. No autopsy will be performed, and he will, per his wishes, be cremated.

I am not a licensed medical professional, coroner, or medical examiner, but my father survived a heart attack over a decade and a half ago, and, while the cause of his death has not yet been officially listed, he likely suffered a sudden cardiac death that he simply could not be revived from. I had initially suspected that he had poisoned himself to death by consuming gasoline, but this was later found to not be the case. Additionally, he lost a tooth as his head hit the cement floor of the garage, although any dental or head injuries that he suffered or may have suffered were probably not severe enough to be the cause of death. I did not witness my dad collapse, as he was in an area of the property that I rarely access for any reason; furthermore, I had trouble locating my dad at first, as my dad was wearing clothing that was of a similar color to the cement floor of the garage, which made it difficult to recognize my dad due to him being effectively camouflaged against the cement floor. After finding my dad unconscious without a pulse and not breathing in the garage, I attempted to perform CPR on him despite not having any formal CPR training and knowing that my dad had probably been dead for one hour or more at that point; once paramedics arrived, they performed CPR on him. Given how suddenly he died, even if I had been able to begin CPR within seconds of his collapse, I don’t think that anyone with any level of training could have revived him. My dad had a routine outpatient blood test performed on him several hours before his death, although there was no evidence of medical malpractice or major bleeding; furthermore, my dad seemed healthy aside from a minor cold and sinus infection he had the last time I saw my dad alive.

My father worked a number of mostly blue-collar jobs before becoming permanently disabled after his first cardiac event. My father was a blue-collar person at heart; he enjoyed doing home repair projects around the house. My father didn’t share as much of an interest in sports as my mother and I do, but he was a devout Chicago Cubs fan who lived long enough to see, via television, the Cubs win the World Series.

In lieu of flowers or physically visiting me at my home, to help me pay for my father’s final expenses, you can buy my eBook, Lady in the Fast Lane, from any one of the eBook sellers you see listed on this webpage. Furthermore, you can buy me anything off of my Amazon wishlist as a gift.

Nearly a week ago, my mother was hospitalized after days of extreme pain and discomfort in her abdominal region that made her unable to move. Last weekend, she was transported via ambulance to OSF Sacred Heart hospital in Danville, Illinois.

My mother suffered from multiple medical ailments affecting her body’s excretory functions and ability to move. She underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair a hernia and remove part of her colon, the latter of which required attachment of an colostomy bag. She is still at the hospital and recovering well from surgery.

Current plans are for her to be transferred to a rehabilitation facility once she is well enough to begin rehabilitation (hopefully early next week), as she has to completely relearn how to walk, among other things.

I am able to visit my mother on a daily basis, however, I have not been able to do much in the way of book-writing or blogging work since Christmas Day due to me familiarizing myself with a laptop that my mom bought me before having to be hospitalized and my mother’s health. However, I will try to increase the rate of my blogging and book-writing work in the coming days while still visiting my mother daily.