Mick´s Urgent problem

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the nature of this note, I would like to inform the team that because it involves our good mate Mick, he has been blocked from entering this new external forum of ours. This was also requested by him, so that the rest of us can discuss the matter, as freely as possible, without him knowing what has been discussed with us. But, please read on…
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Friends,

I hate to be the bearer of some sad news regarding Mick. Mick is now suffering from the terrible illness of what we best know as “mental dementia”.

Quite soon after he signed with us, he mentioned this problem to me, but because doctors assured him that he still had quite a few long months before he started to feel it hard, and also because he did show an enormous keenness in enjoying such a great game in the company of others, we decided that he could continue as far as he could go. Although he was fully prepared to accept it if I did not want to keep him because he would not be of any use once dementia really hits him, later on.

I thought hard on this and could not fail to see his enormous will, of giving it a full go, at having some fun and enjoying a bit of entertainment and companionship with us, in these last few months.

So, I felt that I could in no way deny him a rightful wish of him wanting to enjoy and have fun as we all are in GPRO, everybody deserves every bit of happiness he can muster, especially when on the verge of such a cruel illness. So, I happily and fondly took this lovely natured friend into the team.

But, very, unfortunately, and very sadly, all the serious treatments which were supposed to have allowed him much more time, have not worked and he is already starting to have issues with memory and active chores and so on.

But still with the terrible illness at his doorstep he has, with courage in facing it, not forgotten us and all we have meant for him, this being one of the reasons that he has requested that we allow him to quit the team at the next season reset as he does still understand that it is very prejudicial for the team for him to quit now. He is very afraid to carry on for very much longer till such time as he is no longer capable.

This is what I feel we should do…I think we should honour his request without putting even more stress on a very troubled life which is to take place very soon. He should be allowed to leave with honour and dignity, knowing and remembering (while he still can), that, although not the most experienced of us, he added a lot of great easy-going and humorous times and episodes in the team. And lastly that he was a very respected gentleman in our team.

I will now add the PM message that he has sent me very recently…
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From: Mick Brownhill (Amateur - 64)
To: Tomás Coelho (Amateur - 73)
Received: Yesterday at 14:11:24
Subject: Mick

My dear friend Tommy.

I guess I always knew this time would come but not as fast as it has. My Dementia has taken another turn. Although my memory is OK, I am slowly losing the ability to concentrate with my time span reducing.

I believe it is time to look to the future of the team. I also believe it would be better for me to resign from the team at the season end. This will give you some time to find my replacement without hinder to the team.

I realise there will be some discussion in the team as they will now need to know. Therefore, to allow for freedom of views I will no longer access the new forum, in fact, perhaps you could remove me from the forum. By all means, send this letter to all of them if you think it will help.

I am struggling a little now. I also think I am holding the team back. When you look at the numbers, the team has just short of 160 points and my contribution is 11.7.

This team are a remarkable group of people. Always there supporting each other regardless of topic. I consider all of them my friends, well whilst ever I can remember them lol.

So there it is Tommy. Most likely the saddest post I will ever make.

Take Care. Best Wishes

Mick
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Indeed a very sad post, especially knowing what is coming to him very soon.

Ok, mates, I urge all of you to please respond to this very important topic as soon as possible so that I can formulate an idea and then get back to Mick, by a message to him from our team file, as he no longer has access to this forum. I would like to see all of us responding and express their views.

Thanks for all your time, patience and help!

Tommy.

Ohhhhh no, that is really hard to hear Mick,wish it was not happening to you.
But tray to keep enjoy the live like it is mate,and you can still have a really good time in ur team
wish you all the best Mick and thank you for joining the RRteam

Hi Tommie,
Life can be very mean at times, and so very sad to read Mick's story. I am quite shocked by this. Unfortunately, dementia is becoming one of the major diseases of the population, just the fact that it is so close again is no fun.
I think Mick should be able to do his thing during this season, and treat all the outcomes of this with great respect.
It's good for Mick to want to finish within the team this season, it will also give him some distraction.

I wish you the best of luck, Mick, and thank you for being my teammate.

Herman

Friends, thanks for all your dedications to Mick. A little later, after all of us have responded to this note, I shall post an open team PM message so that Mick and the rest of us can chat with him.

Thanks, boys. I am sure that Mick will then be pleased to hear from ALL of us.

Tommy.

That's...ugly to read.
Unfortunately, this is life and we cannot do anything to prevent such things.

It's shoking new's, but I think we should respect his wish.

This was very hard to read, I had no idea he was going through this terrible illness. I'm sad that he is having to deal with this, and that the course of his dementia is progressing.

I hope he continues to play the game, for both the mental stimulation and for his enjoyment! He is certainly a fun person to race with, always in good humor, and a pleasure to chat with during races. It's unfortunate that we can't invite guests to our team chat, but hopefully he can be found in the main gpro chat during races. He's racing better than he thinks he is, certainly much quicker than I was in my 2nd season of the Ammys!

I admire him for making this tough decision. I know he has other more important real life personal obligations to deal with, in preparation for what is to come. Even though gpro is just a game, it's admirable that he has put considerable thought into this, into how it would impact the team. That's exactly the sort of gentlemanly thing that he would do. It exemplifies why Mick is an excellent teammate, colleague, fellow racing fan, and friend.

Mack, thanks for a great message to Mick. He surely deserves it. We will get a chance to speak to him openly in our normal GPRO forum before he leaves as, at a later stage.

Tommy.

Hi Tomás I was at work yesterday and so didn't have my laptop which helps me keep track of my passwords and I also set up a separate email to connect to the Rabbits forum and have not used that fromy phone. But I have to respond regarding Mick, my other has Alzheimer's and my Dad had a different sort of Dementia, but nonetheless not fun and very hard for family.

I have to say that part of the reason I do Gpro is to engage my brain and exercise it to help keep things going better, I'm only 59 and I don't know yet what my scenario will be. But as to Mick I really want to emphasize has not been a drag on the team in any sense of the words and winning is not everything. In fact I'd go as far as to say several of us would happily team with Mick to help him more when he has challenges from his conditions and he can still enjoy the improvement his driver and car have been making.
I'll understand if he says no but I hate to see him give up under false notions about his abilities. I will be facing a new driver next season after having a semi successful season this season, so what? I'll have to use what I've learned and move on and likely have a down season training and saving money. So who will be the drag on the team then?? Lol.

Well anyway it is sad and I hope we can at least deter this notion he isn't good enough and finish out in a very positive way.

Jim

What terrible news Tommy.

I know how devastating such a condition can be for all concerned as my wife works in the health care sector with those that need help due to Dementia/Alzheimer's.

I wish Mick all the best.