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My dad, Benjamin Sykes. He died of bladder cancer in Tampa in 1991. He developed Parkinson’s in his early to mid-fifties. He died ten days shy of his 70th birthday on August 31st. I was at work when I got the call. I miss him so much. He was a kind, funny, tall, extremely intelligent man with a very twisted sense of humor.

We used to have Monopoly games that went on for weeks. He loved animals and was curious about everything. He gave me my interest in photography and traveling-well, my mom loved travel, too. He loved the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pitt Panthers. I buried my mom and dad’s ashes in Pittsburgh on Pitt’s Homecoming day. That seemed to be Divine Intervention because I had no idea the homecoming was happening.

Parkinson’s is a horrible neurological disorder that is progressive and there is no cure. Dad was on at least two medications for it.

I took this photo in about 1986. It must have around then because I took it with my Canon SLR 35mm camera and developed the film and printed the photo in the USF Mass Comm (journalism) photo lab. I worked there as a student assistant for 2-3 semesters-while I had two other jobs and went to school.

If any of you wonderful readers would like to donate to help end this disease please click on the link above. Any amount will be appreciated. Thank you.❤️❤️