World's Best Grandpa!

About 3 weeks ago my grandfather went to the doctor and found out he had thyroid cancer. At the time of diagnosis the doctors seemed very optimistic and we going to start radiation treatment the next week. The mass was grown around his windpipe and was inoperable. When he went to the hospital his oxygen levels weren't high enough for them to start the radiation so the waited a few days. April 4 he was readmitted to the hospital because he was having trouble breathing and was put on a respirator. He never got off. After doing an MRI they found out the cancer had spread to his lungs and back. There was nothing left they could do. Last Sunday the doctors told my grandma to call family because there wasn't much time left. I had just arrived in Florida that Saturday for vacation. I so wanted to fly home right then to be with my family, but Emma was supposed to meet her other great-grandparents that Monday for the first time and I knew that Grandpa would have wanted them to see her and spend time with her. So I stayed the week, dreading every phone call I got from my mom. They said that he could go at anytime. We left to drive back home at 6:30am on Friday and drove straight through back to IL and arrived home at 5 am. I slept a couple of hours and then headed straight to the hospital to see him. We spent the day there. I am so grateful that I got there in time to see him and hold his hand. The doctors don't have an explanation as to why he lasted as long as he did. They've never seem that before. He said that there was no way that we would have all of the family around when it happened and we proved him wrong yet again. All of his children were there, along with some siblings and those of us grandchildren that could. I like to think that he was waiting for us all to get there. I am so grateful to have had such a wonderful grandfather. He was like a big teddy bear. He may look a little rough on the outside, but he sure loved his family, especially us grandkids. As a child, I loved to grab a book and head to Grandpa's lap and have him read to me. He almost always had a child in his lap. I'll always remember him that way. Our family is strong and are getting through this fairly well I think. My grandmother is amazing. The next few days and weeks to come will be hard, but we are comforted in the fact that we will see him again. He was never baptized as a member of our church, but we will do the temple work for him a year from now. I can't wait for the day that him and my grandma are sealed together. They have had the model marriage and I hope mine can be like theirs. At the hospital when grandma would touch him, you could see his heart rate go up, knowing she was there. So even after all of these years so can still make his heart race. I just put a few pictures that I had on my computer of him. I love him and pray that I can see him again someday. I am saddened that my daughter won't get to know her great-grandpa, but we have plenty of stories to tell. He will live on in all of us.