Stairway To Heaven Please vote for my Dad's page on Golden Angels TopSites. Thank You, GBU, DJ My dad,Roy Lee Sweatt was born June 7,1922.He served in the Army Airforce which was a first branch of the Airforce.He was promoted very quickly to staff sergeant. All through high school,he was a boxer,challenging many but wasnt defeated. He fought on exhibition through World War II with Sugar Ray Robinson. He won many golden gloves titles and fought professionally for a short time,til he married my mom and she insisted that he quit pro boxing. I have shared this story about him and my mom on the page dedicated to her. My father was from a very well known family that was considered upper middle class, but they worked very hard for everything they ever had.My grandfather, Fred Jackson Sweatt,was in the salvage business,dealing in scrap iron and other metals,automobiles,etc.My dad continued in this business until his death at age 57,July 13,1981.My grandmother was Nellie Jane Phillips from Flippen Arkansas and I really dont know alot about her family.My dad was the oldest and the only son with 3 sisters,Dorothy Belle,Evelyn and Nellie Raye. He was known as a very honest business man and made many deals on just a handshake.He bought my first car,a 1966 mustang,nothing down,just a handshake agreeing to pay it off,no particular payments,no set date,nothing. How many people could or would do that today?My dad and mom had 4 children, Jim (explained on moms page) Fred,Roy Jr (Bud) and Me,Donna (DJ)My brothers were all less than 2 years apart.Both of my parents had RH negative factor in their blood so mom was warned against having any more children after Bud,telling her that she could die having another.My dad wanted a girl so badly so almost 7 years later my mom became pregnant with me.It was a very hard pregnancy,only gained 11 pounds and was put on full bedrest in her early months.I was due to be born on March 10,1955, but was born exactly one month early on Feb 10,1955.I was born with the same lung disease that JFK's son Patrick died with a few months before.I was kept in the hospital for several months,only weighed 2 1/2 lbs at birth and lost down to 2 lbs at one time.I was so wrinkled and red,so little. Months before,my brother had gone to school crying.When his teacher asked him what was wrong,he replied that he had heard mom telling dad that if this one wasnt a girl, they were giving it away.LOL! When they first came to see me,I guess I was so ugly, like a little bird with absolutely no hair that they were horrified! The teacher had told my brother to make him feel better that if I was a boy that she would take me so he wouldnt worry.She knew that he had overheard this and that my parents wouldnt ever give up any of their children.Well,the next day,after he got to come see me,he came to school again crying.His teacher asked him what was the matter,that she knew he had a sister? He said yes,but you can still have her cause shes already all wrinkled and old? Nine years later,I had this same teacher and she told me this story many times.LOL My dad fought in many different campaigns in the war and won numerous awards,pins,stripes,etc. My dad had a problem,however,he was an alcoholic,a closet one.No one else would ever know that he drank but mom and us kids could tell if he had taken one drink.He had been raised so strict in his life and raised us the same way.He loved all his kids but didnt understand til years later that he did not know how to spank a kids when we were young.He whipped us like his dad had whipped him.I didnt get very many as the baby and the only girl but my 2 brothers, Jim and Bud got their share.When I had my two sons,however,he didnt want me spanking his grandchildren at all.When I confronted him about this one day,tears came into his eyes \as he told me that he had learned from his mistakes,that his father had raised him that way and he thought it was the right way.My dad was one of the most intelligent men that I had ever met,having a very high IQ.We were raised in an upper middle class family and was pretty spoiled,getting most of the things we wanted, especially me.My mom worked long hours in the beauty shop that she owned and my dad in his salvage business.I loved my dad with all my heart but didnt want to be around him when he drank.We never saw him drink, it was always hidden somewhere but we knew that he was and when he was. My mom was a fanatic against drinking and all of us kids were.I guess Fred was worst than any of us about it.Thats why it shocked everyone that he also became an alcoholic during college and battled this problem most of his life. I moved to Calif and had both of my sons there but would return to visit my dad at least twice a year if not more.My dad was finally diagnosed with Lupus and lived with it for the last 8 years of his life,having to take many medications for this disease. My dad and mom worked hard all their lives yet still found time to take my brothers all over the south for boxing matches,tennis tournaments,or wharever other activity they had going on.They found time to take me to swimming ,baton,dancing and skating lessons.My dad was VFW commander several terms and my mom womens auxiliary president.He taught boxing to all the boys in Newport, member of VFW and American Legion Clubs.He was honest,respected and loved by so many of us. He brought us up to have very high morals to always know right from wrong But looking back on it now,he didnt discuss religion much.I went with friends of mine and their aunt that raised them took us to every service,never missing choir practice. wed nite,Sunday morning and night.My dad or mom would take me to every service and pick me up but they didnt attend.I sang a solo to an autoharp at age 12 or 13 to one of the largest churches in Newport,The First Baptist Church.But when I married and moved away,I drifted away from the church for several years. When my dad was diagnosed with Lupus,he went through alot of difficult times. He had never been sick and all of a sudden he had a high fever of sometimes 104 and above, joints swelled so bad that he couldnt walk.He refused to go to the dr for over a month, til I flew back to try and get him to go to the VA Hospital in Little Rock. My brother,Bud,picked me up in L.R and my dad came with him. I was so shocked! He was so swollen and had a rash all over his body. When we went to cross the street to go to the car,the light changed 3 times to green before he made it across.I was so brokenhearted.I begged and pleaded with him to go to the hospital and find out what was wrong.My dad was so independent, didnt want to depend on anyone,even us kids.So without telling any of us so that we could take him,he got on a bus and went to Little Rock.He was unable to drive by this time.When he got to Little Rock,he took a cab to the VA Hospital where he discovered that he couldnt walk up the stairs of the hospital.We were told this later and I still cry when I think about it.This proud man crawled up those stairs! I was so upset that he let his pride keep him from telling us so that we could take him.Then I was hurt for him because I know how his pride must have felt having to crawl those stairs. One of the drs saw him and immediately took him into ER and admitted him. Then they called us and told us where he was but that they had no idea what was wrong, just that something was badly wrong.It took the 33 days to find out what it was. Until that time,all they did was give him large amounts of aspirin a day cause they didnt know what the problem was.I had never heard my dad yell in his life, til that day that they cut a chunk out of his back by kidneys and inserted an auger like tool and pulled out a piece of his kidney.The nest day,they had a diagnosis, Lupus ,an ailment very rare in males.They said they thought he had this disease since the war.They put him on heavy does of medication,including steroids,which caused him to swell alot.His joints would swell and hurt so badly.He was sent home and I returned to my home in Calif .He seemed to get along pretty good for a couple of years.Then he had a stroke and my brothers called me. I called dad and told him would be on the next flight but he said no, he was fine,etc,etc.He wasnt,but he didnt want me to worry.He lost use of his right hand and taught hinself to write with his left hand and eat,etc. My brother,Bud was evangelizing and asst pastor at Church of God church. My dad started going with him quite a bit and participated in the worship services although he had always been against the Penecoastal churches because he didnt understand them.So this was amazing for him to even attend but he enjoyed them alot.July 1st 1981,my dad mowed his yard,3 lots that he had bought and both of my brothers lawns.If you have ever been in Arkansas in July,you know how humid it is.He had been told by the drs after his first stroke that he had this same disease that we all have except his was in his neck.They wanted to do a simple surgery and clear out the veins in his neck.My dad wasnt afraid of anything but he was very leery of drs.He put the surgery off for quite some time with us kids begging him to get it done.That day,after all the mowing,he went out to his cousins that he was very close to and told him that he had decided to have the surgery.He said that he felt he owed it to his children and grandchildren to live as long as possible.But he didnt want us to know until after.That night, he was preparing his bath and had a massive stroke that knocked out 3 parts of the left side of his brain that affects the right side of the body.His home was air conditioned by window units and the bathroom door was closed so no air could get in that room.He lay there all night until the next morning,completely paralyzed on his right side,couldnt speak,swallow or anything on that side.The next morning, my brother,Bud,and his brother in law stopped by to see dad.There was no answer to the door,although his truck was there.As they started to leave,Bud heard something like a growling noise.He knocked out the window and went in and found my dad beside the tub.The temperature was about 105 in there with no air all night long. They called an ambulance,got my dad up and was getting him dressed as he was getting in the tub when he had this massive stroke.Bud started to put dad's wallet in his back pocket where he kept it and dad grunted,shook his head and motioned with left hand for him to keep it.The ambulance arrived taking my dad to a local hospital intending on trasferring him to the VA in Little Rock.They didnt have a bed there so my dad was kept overnight in Newport.I was called by my brother,Jim,and he told me that it was real bad. I immediately got a flight out of Fresno Calif into Little Rock the next day while they were transferring dad to the VA hospital.My brother picked me and my sons up and took us to the hospital immediately.I knew that my dad was bad,really bad. The stroke had paralyzed his whole right side,including the muscles in his throat making it unable for him to swallow.The drs came in and tod us that he wasnt in immediate danger but that he would never regain any use of his right side because of the damage to the brain.They suggested we admit him into the rehab center of the other VA branch which was long term care.We refused,telling them we wanted to take him home and wanted all the equipment ordered to take care of him at home.I called my husband and told him to sell everything cause I was staying with my dad and come there. From the 2nd of July til July 12th,I never left the hospital and neither did my 2 sons. They were small but loved their papa so much and had never been away from me so I let them stay.Their paternal grandfather was in the room next to my dad, dying of lung cancer and the nurses let the kids go in whenever they wanted. My dad would try to say their name and I love you,would pucker his lips up for a kiss from them.I would ask dad all the time if he wanted me to pray and he would nod yes every time.PTL! About 4 days after we had been there,my niece,Gidget,and I were talking to him and he motioned with his left hand that he wanted a pen and paper to write.I got it for him and he wrote God.I said dad are you trying to tell me that you are right with God? He wrote it again! I showed the drs when they came in and they said it was a coincidence,that there was no way he could put any words together. I got really upset and told them I didnt know what God they served but my God could do anything,even heal my dad.They just shook their heads and walked away.I asked dad again, dad are you alright with the Lord? Hr wrote God for the third time and a tear rolled down his face.The drs had all told us that dad wasnt going to die,that he wasnt going to get better ever but was in no immediate danger.That afternoon,the drs advised us to go home at least for the night so dad could rest more.At first I refused,but Bud told me that they were having a special prayer meeting that night for my dad at the church he served as asst pastor.I went although I didnt want to be 88 miles away from my dad. That night we prayed in a service that started at 7 pm and lasted til about 10 pm. I had just recently came back to God and really feel that it was the first time that I had really accepted Him.I had never gone to any Penecoastal services since I was a child and went with my cousins to a big tent revival.This was so different from the large reserved church that I had attended all of my life and it scared me to death.I ran out of the tent and never went back to another until my brother \started preaching at this one.I knew that I knew that I had a relationship with Him unlike any that I had ever had before.After church that night,I couldnt wait to get to my brothers and call the hospital and ask how my dad was.The nurse replied no change and I asked her when aws the last time she had checked? She replied a few hours and I asked her to please go check right then.I was convinced that my dad was going to be up,walking and talked,healed by God.She came back and told me still no change.I still believed that God was going to heal my dad.The next morning, we got back at the hospital about 5 am.When we entered the room,my dad was tied down to the bed!He was already into what I later found out was called the death rattle. I was so upset.I had asked the hospital not to try to put a feeding tube in my dads nose til I was there with him to explain it to him.They had promised that they would not because the man in the room with my dad had one in him.Dad would look at them feeding him thru this and shake his head at me,that he didnt want them to do this to him.They had tried putting one in my dad as soon as we left that previous afternoon and they dont know how he did it,but he had jerked it out of his nose.They tried again and he did the same thing.Then they tied his hands down,although he couldnt move his right one and he had broken the ties on his left hand and removed it again.I am not bragging about this but everyone in this county was scared to death of my dad.He trained every day,ran,jumped rope,punchimg bag,etc until he was diagnosed with Lupus. They didnt even know that my dad had started rattling,they said.But the lady was with her husband that was in the same room with my dad.When I asked her when my dad became like this,she said about 7 pm the night before!Just when we started praying for him. I was so sick at this time but didnt realize it,my temp was 104 but no one realized it until my mom grabbed me to hold me and felt the fever.I literally attacked my brother asking him why God was doing this? He tried to explain that we had prayed that Gods Will be done,that dad not suffer.I didnt understand this at all and told him that I hadnt prayed that way,that I had prayed for my daddy to be healed.He tried to explain to me but I wouldnt listen and said some harsh things that I had to beg Gods forgiveness for.They rushed my dad into a special ICU unit, telling us that we couldnt go in with him.They did allow my request that the chaplain b e there with him as they worked on him.I have no idea how much time passed,seemed like hours but probally was at the most an hour until the head dr came out and asked us to accompany him into his office.I started screaming and fighting everyone that tried to get me in there because in my mind if I didnt hear him say it,it wasnt so.When he told us,I couldnt quit screaming! This was a nightmare! Lord,please let me wake up!!! They had told us right after the stroke that my dad could never move the right side of his face again,that he was completely paralyzed on his right side and would never even be able to smile on that side.I remember they asked me if any of us wanted to see dad and my brothers all said no.I did and with my mom on one side of me and my dads sister on the other,we walked into this room.My dad was laying there and a smile was on both sides of his face! I saw this before I collaspsed and was rushed to Er there. The first thing I asked for when I came to was the head dr that had treated my dad. He came in and I asked him how was my dad smiling on both sides of his face? He replied that he had no explanation for this.I told him that I did,that \God had done this and it was a miracle.The dr denied this,saying that if God had healed my dad,he wouldnt have died.I said,no,God knew that we couldnt live not knowing that my dad wasnt at peace with God and in heaven,that this was a miracle for us,not him.They told me that the chaplain wanted to talk to me. He came into the room and told me how sorry he was and that he wanted to share what had happened with me.He told me that the last 20 minutes my dad lived,his breathing returned to normal and that the last breath my dad took,he looked straight up at the ceiling like he was seeing something and smiled on both sides of his face!He had been with me every day and he knew that this went against every thing the drs had told us?I wish I could say that I accepted this and I did but I was in so much pain thinking of life without my dad. He was too young,just turned 57,it wasnt fair.I was hysterical for days, didnt sleep,eat,talk,nothing.When I returned to Calif with my mom after everything was taken care of,I still wasnt any better.I developed paracarditis over this and spent weeks in the hospital in Calif.My dr explained that I was grieving so much that the lining of my heart was swelling.I had to take heavy medication that had to be mixed in orange juice.I thought that this was the hardest thing that I would ever have to endure in my life.Little did I know, that that was not even the icing on the cake of the horror that 14 years later almost caused me to lose my mind.The loss of my oldest son ,Shane.It has been almost 8 years since that time and only by the grace of God am I here.I would not have survived this loss ever without the Lord.Im not going to say that its easy,even now.Hes the first thing I think of when I open my eyes in the morning and the last as I go to sleep at night,when I do sleep.But I know that I will never have anything hurt me as much as that ever again.So I will come thru all that satan throws at me victorious,for even in death, I still win,for I am going home to be with the Lord Jesus,dad and Shane and all the rest that are awaiting me there.Thank You Jesus for assuring me of this daily.I have lost my dad,my son and 3 of my 3 brothers and I know where they are and that they are planning for my arrival. I do know that God knows when I cant handle anymore and He takes me somewhere.While at the hospital,where we were for 9 1/2 days after my oldest brother had fell,my sister in law told me that she needed to apoloogize to me for something.When I asked her what, she replied that she had never seen anyone take anything as hard as I took my dads death. She said that she asked my btother if I was that bad with Shane and he told her that it \was 1000 times worse,that he didnt think nor did the drs that I would live through this, She explained that she didnt think she could even imagine anyone being worse than me when we lost dad and she couldnt have handled seeing me worse than that.I told her that no apologies was necessary,that I hadnt known that she wasnt there,because I wasnt there, mentally,myself.I know its selfish and all my poems say that it is but Im not going to say that you ever get over the loss of your child.Its just not supposed to be that way. Children are supposed to bury their parents,not the other way around.My heart goes out to any that has went through this nightmare and can say that it is only the grace of God that can bring you through this,nothing else.But when people tell me that time heals all wounds,I have to tell them they are wrong,that they have to walk in the shoes of others, it doesnt heal,but by the grace of God,we can be survivors.I have pics of dad to share and will be adding to this page as I can.