Dear Editor,
 
I want to express my sincere appreciation to The Freestone County Times and the community for the support given to my father’s 90th birthday.  The family and community really showed tremendous love and support by attending the event at Moody-Bradley House and Dad, or Joe Lee Kirgan, Jr, was overwhelmed and humbled by it all.  It was a very special day, thank you for helping to make it so.  So many were in attendance that I didn’t get to visit with everyone to tell them how much I appreciated their attendance.  Please accept my sincere thanks.
  There are tremendous highs and lows in life and as excited and happy as our family was on the 8th of March, we experienced a tremendous low a week later on March 16th when we rushed Dad to Fairfield ER to find he suffered a heart attack, which he survived but testing revealed multiple severe blockages to his heart’s blood supply; 99%, 95%, 2-90%, 80%, 70%, and several others above 50%.  The cardiologist in Tyler could not believe he was alive.  He was stabilized in Fairfield, transported to Tyler, and returned home due to concerns that he might get exposed to Covid-19 or some other illness, and subsequently suffered another heart attack.  He was again stabilized in Fairfield’s ER, returned to Tyler, and as of this writing still awaiting his open-heart surgery on Monday, March 23rd.
 I don’t know the final outcome of this story…it’s in God’s hands. However, I do know this…without Fairfield’s Hospital Emergency Room the story would have ended the 16th.  I want to thank the ER staff that saved Dad’s life, and allowed us to spend time with him until his surgery.  No family is allowed in the hospital so any time with him is precious.
This could be your family’s story instead of mine.  It could be your spouse, mother, dad, sister, brother, or friend next time.  Please do not let our clinic, hospital, and emergency room close…vote NO to the tax rollback which is a yes to keeping those doors open and yes to the future of our community.
 
Joe Lee Kirgan, III
Fairfield, Texas