So Much Heart

David, Joanna, Dennis and Me at UC Health Denver in Early March

One of the best parts about being sick is seeing how much it brings people together. Amid all the pain and suffering, there is so much love. And, of course, love promotes healing.

I have been living this since early January when my brother, David, was diagnosed with Stage 4 laryngeal cancer. (I’ll post more on this at a later date.)

This story, however, is mostly about my friend and fellow ski instructor, Dennis Huis. Dennis is the lucky recipient of a new heart and although he has a long way to go in terms of healing, he’s already doing so much better.

I saw Dennis, one of Telluride Ski Resort’s top instructors, in December and I could tell right away he was not well. Next thing I knew I learned that he was in Denver awaiting a heart transplant! Wow–you can bet that created a lot of buzz in the locker room. I found out about this about the same time that I began to help my brother sort out his diagnosis and treatment.

Dennis & Joanna

After crisscrossing Colorado for a couple of weeks with David, I arranged to see the best of the best at University of Colorado Health in Denver. Joanna, Dennis’s wife, told me that that’s where Dennis was receiving care and that we should stay with him when in the mile-high city. Not wanting to impose, Dave and I suffered through two dismal nights at The Timbers. (They are really in need of a renovation, which is apparently in the works.) After we learned that we’d be in Denver a couple more nights, Dennis insisted we come and stay with him in the condo he was renting, a specially reserved “transplant recipient unit” just a short drive from the hospital.

How lovely it was to come together at this bittersweet moment. Dennis greeted us with a delicious homemade lentil soup, a welcome bowl of comfort food after another long day at the hospital. Dave felt badly that he couldn’t talk very well (throat cancer does that to you) and that he was too exhausted and overwhelmed from his sickness and all the hospital doings to be very good company. If anyone was going to understand, it was Dennis.

Dennis and Me Out to Dinner

So the second night, Dennis and I dined out and toasted to good health along with his 20-year anniversary of being a ski instructor. Joanna happened to be back in Telluride that evening attending the annual Telluride Ski Resort dinner that honors such major milestones. I was so happy to be there for Dennis because despite his good spirits, I could tell that awaiting his heart transplant amid waning health was beginning to wear on him.

Fast forward over a month later in early March when I was back in Denver spending a week with Dave who was in his third week of a combined radiation/chemotherapy/immunotherapy program at UC Health. “How about we pay Dennis a visit?” I asked my brother after one of his daily radiation treatments. “He’s still here recovering from his transplant.” His eyes lit up despite the fact that I knew he felt like any extra time spent in the hospital was too much for him.

But in the short time they had met, I could tell these two guys had formed a bond, the kind of connection that comes with life threatening disease and a long road of healing ahead. They both were in a position to have the greatest amount of empathy for each other and in their presence you could feel that along with a whole wide range of other emotions. (I’m choking up as I write this.)

David and I waited outside Dennis’s hospital room all bug-eyed. He was on the special Cardiac Critical Care floor and boy was it impressive. There were more bells, whistles and beeps than at Disneyland. Between all the monitors and serious-looking medical professionals, the intensity of it was palpable. Finally we were allowed to enter Dennis’s room where despite his stapled chest and numerous hookups to all kinds of medical paraphernalia, we saw his glowing face. And Joanna’s, too. Truly it felt like a rebirth, which is exactly what it has been for both of them.

David and Dennis traded war stories as Joanna and I looked on like the ever-so hopeful caretakers that we have been. Amid all the heartbreak, there is much love and hope.

And best of all, it radiates through so many, so many people that have helped and will be helping these two men–as well as many others–on their journey of healing.

“I couldn’t have gone through all this without them,” Dennis says about the Telluride Ski School community. “I’ve been overwhelmed by their outpouring of love and support,” he adds.

The Village Table Fundraising Raffle for Dennis

Some of the biggest kudos go to John Gerona, restaurateur extraordinaire who also logged some time as a ski instructor. (I remember one training in particular where it was just Johnny and me under Dennis’s keen instruction. The focus was on driving our femurs through every turn–oh yeah!)

Well, John and his wife, Janice, owners of The Village Table in Telluride Mountain Village, are paying it back tenfold. And then some. Throughout the month of March, the restaurant will be donating $1 of every drink sold during happy hour to a fund set up for Dennis and Joanna. (They fortunately have good health insurance but all the extras that aren’t covered in heart transplants add up to a colossal amount. One can only imagine!)

Johnny also organized a fundraiser/raffle that includes a pair of custom-made Wagner skis, a Shaboomee SUP and dinner for two at The Village Table. Winners will be announced Thursday, April 5th. You can buy tickets for $10. each from Ski School or at The Village Table.

Johnny in The Village Table Kitchen

Gotta love all the love. Go ahead and step up and be a part of it, too.

Go to Dennis’s site at HelpHopeLive to learn more about Dennis, his journey and also to show some love.

You can also listen to Dennis talking about his past experiences leading pack trips outside of Durango, Colorado in my story Embracing the Colorado Wilderness with Over the Hill Outfitters.

Go to David’s Caring Bridge site to find out more about what’s happening with David and to send him a message of support.

Check out my story, The Village Table: Bringing Global Soul Food to Telluride, to read about this best-loved Telluride restaurant. There you can listen to a podcast of an interview with Johnny, too. Visit The Village Table’s Facebook page for information on the fundraisers for Dennis and more.

Read about the love and support shown to Dennis by the Telluride Ski & Snowboard School in Help for a Heart, a story published on Valentine’s Day by Telluride’s local paper, The Daily Planet.

Thank you in advance to all for your love, support and prayers.

Serving Up The Village Table Love