Memorial Day is a time to honor and remember those who have died serving our country. Each year, Eric Linthicum, 62, looks back on his time in the Navy and uses the holiday to remember his military brothers and sisters who died in war and veterans who have died from mesothelioma.
HIS SERVICE
Eric has lived a fulfilling life. He spent the last 20 years as a Lutheran pastor, but long before that he was a Navy cook. He spent four years in the service most of his time was out at sea. January 1978 was Eric’s first time on the Navy ship he would call home, the USS South Carolina.
Working as a cook was tiring. His shift would have him work one day on and one day off, but the days were long. About 14 to 15 hours cooking non-stop for 535 sailors. He said the food wasn’t gourmet, but it was nice to have a cooked meal after a long day.
“We had the attitude that we were there for the ship’s morale,” he said.
At sea for prolonged periods of time life could get lonely. At that time, mail took weeks to get to the ship and phone calls home were scarce. Moreover, during certain military missions, it would also feel extremely stressful, but Eric found a way to cope with it: On top of the signal bridge, which is one of the highest points of the ship, he would just lay down and watch the stars.
“It was the most amazing sight to see stars out at sea on a navy war ship,” Eric said.
HIS FAITH
After his time in the military, Eric found a passion for bringing people together as a pastor in Ohio and Maryland. His faith helps him find comfort in life’s most trying times.
He was diagnosed with well-differentiated papillary mesothelioma in January 2009. Originally, he was due to get his gallbladder removed. When the surgeon noticed a spot he didn’t recognize he cut it out and sent it for a biopsy. That’s how he found out he had cancer.
That same day, he went home and searched the internet for answers. What could he do to help his situation?
He was completely numb. All he knew about mesothelioma was what he saw on cable commercials for law firms. He was frustrated that the information he was finding online was mostly all legal, but what he urgently needed was medical information. He stumbled upon the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation website and contacted its executive director and expert nurse practitioner, Mary Hesdorffer.
Within an hour, Hesdorffer called him and gave him a referral to a specialist. While on the phone with her, that same specialist appeared on his TV screen featured on ABC World News Tonight.
He got chills and thought, “Okay, God are you trying to tell me something?”
Mesothelioma-wise, these days, Eric is doing well. The cancer is at a point where it’s not spreading.
These last 12 years since his diagnosis may have presented him with extraordinary challenges, but he believes his faith in God and the support of the meso community have helped him accept them and deal with them.
HIS PRESENT
Now, Eric lives in Frederick, Maryland, and he recently retired from the church. His wife, Linda, will be retiring from her job as the director of animal control for Frederick County in October. Their future home is being built in “Florida’s nature coast” just south of Panama City Beach and north of Tampa. They plan to move in November and start the next chapter of their lives.
“My dream for retirement is to get back into kayaking, hiking and fishing,” he said.
HIS FUTURE
Eric is also looking forward to meeting his first grandchild for the first time.
“They are still up in Cleveland and we haven’t been able to get there to meet her. But my son has been really good at sending pictures and videos,” Eric said.
As for the meso community, since retiring, Eric has adopted an unofficial role as meso-chaplain for those folks who seek his comfort. Other patients and their families find it easy to talk to him, because he knows exactly what they are talking about. He has been in their shoes.
“I’m a chaplain who has had the opportunity to hear the words you have mesothelioma,” he said.
The community also returns that comfort back to him in equal amounts and has over the years helped him overcome his own fears related to his diagnosis.
As this Memorial Day approaches, Eric thinks back on his own service and his fellow servicemembers, and takes a moment to acknowledge their sacrifice regardless of whether that occurred in battle or at the hand of a cancer like mesothelioma.
“A disease that came to them because of their service should be remembered as well,” Eric said.
