36 min
3. Caregiving and Racing to Restore a Car -- A Son’s Love for His Dying Father Making Our Way
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- Mental Health
Blu Sanders is a songwriter, photographer, and musician. He’s written songs with some of the best in country music. He spent years working with the Eli Young Band, and he’s been out on the road as an assistant tour manager and photographer with Miranda Lambert. Many nights she would bring him out on stage to sing with her.
But Blu isn’t about glitz and glamour. The conversation we have today is one of grit and grace and a whole lot of love. When his dad was diagnosed with ALS – Lou Gehrig’s disease -- Blu left Nashville and the music business for 18 months to go home to take care of his dad in the final months of his life. He talks openly about the challenges of caregiving.... the honor and the anger and the beautiful moments.
Blu’s story is one of selflessness and quiet determination, but there’s more to his story. Beyond taking care of his dad, Blu was in a race against time....to bring an old car back to life, as his dad’s life faded.
For most of us, cars are meant to take us from one place to another – but in Blu’s case, a 1941 Chevy Deluxe – as Blu calls it – a dusty old family relic -- was so much more.
Although he couldn’t fix his dad, he did fix this car -- A car that had been sitting in pieces in the backyard of his childhood home in El Paso, Texas for over 20 years. This car became a focal point, a reason for friends to gather, a temporary respite among the daily struggles of caregiving. And Blu was NOT a car guy – he struggled to rebuild that car.
Blu says his story is about relationships and commitment and grease and sweat. It’s about “the grim reality of a terminal disease coupled with life lessons from a Chevrolet.”
He is humble and honest about the toll of caregiving, the beauty of simple things and time.... just time.... with ones we love. His very intimate story is one of love, dying, and ultimately, his dad’s final ride.
To learn more about Blu’s book, The Forty One, and his story of caring for his dad, please visit www.blusanders.com.
For more info on Duchenne and how we’re changing the world, visit us at: www.teamjoseph.org.
Facebook: @teamjosephinfo
Twitter: @teamjosephinfo
Instagram: team_joseph
Blu Sanders is a songwriter, photographer, and musician. He’s written songs with some of the best in country music. He spent years working with the Eli Young Band, and he’s been out on the road as an assistant tour manager and photographer with Miranda Lambert. Many nights she would bring him out on stage to sing with her.
But Blu isn’t about glitz and glamour. The conversation we have today is one of grit and grace and a whole lot of love. When his dad was diagnosed with ALS – Lou Gehrig’s disease -- Blu left Nashville and the music business for 18 months to go home to take care of his dad in the final months of his life. He talks openly about the challenges of caregiving.... the honor and the anger and the beautiful moments.
Blu’s story is one of selflessness and quiet determination, but there’s more to his story. Beyond taking care of his dad, Blu was in a race against time....to bring an old car back to life, as his dad’s life faded.
For most of us, cars are meant to take us from one place to another – but in Blu’s case, a 1941 Chevy Deluxe – as Blu calls it – a dusty old family relic -- was so much more.
Although he couldn’t fix his dad, he did fix this car -- A car that had been sitting in pieces in the backyard of his childhood home in El Paso, Texas for over 20 years. This car became a focal point, a reason for friends to gather, a temporary respite among the daily struggles of caregiving. And Blu was NOT a car guy – he struggled to rebuild that car.
Blu says his story is about relationships and commitment and grease and sweat. It’s about “the grim reality of a terminal disease coupled with life lessons from a Chevrolet.”
He is humble and honest about the toll of caregiving, the beauty of simple things and time.... just time.... with ones we love. His very intimate story is one of love, dying, and ultimately, his dad’s final ride.
To learn more about Blu’s book, The Forty One, and his story of caring for his dad, please visit www.blusanders.com.
For more info on Duchenne and how we’re changing the world, visit us at: www.teamjoseph.org.
Facebook: @teamjosephinfo
Twitter: @teamjosephinfo
Instagram: team_joseph
36 min