Dear FYSA family,

 

Please forgive me because my writing skills will most decidedly not be adequate enough to express my sincere feelings of gratitude to all of you for your constant love and support.  You have to remember I am the “other” Fleck - unlike my Father, Dr. Tom, who graduated magna cum laude, my graduation from college was referred to as Thank You Lorde.

 

I am writing this letter to thank ALL of you for the kind words of encouragement and support on this difficult journey that we have been on with Dr. Tom Fleck.  It has been one of the most difficult, yet most inspiring, experiences of my life.  Dr. Tom is doing as well as he can in his fight with Alzheimer’s disease, and most importantly he is still, in essence, the same person you all know and, in time, grew to respect and love.

 Many of you have called and e-mailed to ask me how he is doing and, as I have said before, he is showing me unbelievable courage with typical Dr. Tom style.  For example, on my visits with him at the Alzheimer’s facility he is in, he constantly is telling me that we need to help all of these “good people” that are in the facility with him.  Whenever I give him his favorite snack – Reese’s peanut butter cups – he breaks them up to share with whoever is sitting near us.

 Being from Philly ( Philadelphia, Pa. ) there’s no surprise to anyone that he wants to beat this thing called Alzheimer’s disease.  He keeps telling the nurse in his cottage with an unrelenting optimism that he is going to beat Alzheimer’s disease with a stick as soon as he finds it.  I look at him with an amazing amount of respect – different than before.  This is not the kind of respect that can be earned through ordinary events.  This is more like the kind of respect I gained for Joe Frazier, the one time World Champion Boxer, when he fought Ali.  Frazier exhibited a persistent spirit in all three battles, but most clearly in the third fight with Ali – when he never stopped coming at Ali no matter what the cost or punishment to his body.

  I know my Dad could talk like Ali, but his fighting spirit to me seems to be more like that other Philadelphian – Fightin’ Joe Frazier – with fighting being the key word.

  Someone recently asked me to describe what it is like to visit my dad in the Alzheimer’s facility.  The best I could come up with is that it is like getting an ice cream cone while being in Hell.  Whenever I visit he always makes me laugh.  Though his communication skills may not be what they once were, he told me not too long ago that caring for people, believing in people and laughter are some of the most important things in life.  As always, being the consummate teacher that he is, he gives me lessons on every visit.  He ranks music and singing as more high priority items that should be on the Life List of things that we should be do with much more regularity.  Dad and I hum the Notre Dame Fight song, which always seems to lift his spirits.  He then assures me that I was the one that was humming off key, though I am sure we both were.  To say the least, when we used to sing along with Frank Sinatra songs – he would inform me that he, of course, was a much better singer than Sinatra but more importantly he is by far much better looking than Frank.

  Welcome to my world – the man, my Dad, has the confidence of a Marine, which he is, and very proud of it.

  In short, let me again thank all of you for all of your support.  You must know how much FYSA means to Tom but most importantly, the people who make up FYSA are, and always will be, the most important to him.

  Last January, when he was the Honor Award Recipient at the NSCAA convention, I remember I was supposed to stand next to him during his speech just in case his speech wandered off.  However, what happened was him getting a standing ovation for one of the best speeches I have ever heard.  He told all the coaches in attendance at the banquet, “YOU people, not me, did those things that were read off as my accomplishments.  You people did all of those things that make soccer better in this country.”

 And then he, being that ultimate teacher, gave us one strong last lesson when he told all of us to “Let the children have FUN and let them PLAY,” putting everything into proper prospective.

  My dad gave me the courage to tell people what I feel when I feel it through his ordeal.  So if you are fortunate enough to have a dad, mom, brother, sister, family members and friends, give them a hug and tell them how much they mean to you.

 I have just told all of you how much you mean to Dr. Tom, me and our family.  Please consider my letter to be the largest hug ever given to a great bunch of people.

And one more thing, I would like to thank my dad, Dr. Tom Fleck, for making me laugh when I wanted to cry.  Dad, you indeed won this battle against Alzheimer’s through the character you showed while playing the game.

 

Sincerely, from Dr. Tom’s proud son,

 T. Logan Fleck