A Message From Dave

Hi all. Just checked my email and saw Dave sent me a message to post on here, so here it is.

"Well Gang:

I guess you are not going to get rid of me so easily. As already posted, I am at home resting from the ordeal of being in the hospital. Boy, if you want or need rest, the hospital is the last place one wants to go. Needles every 4 hours or so and some too cheerful CNA coming in at "0" dark thirty to check your vitals. What a trip, but seriously, I have never seen such a great bunch of true professionals both in Sheridan and Colorado Springs. The medical staff in Sheridan were on top of this the whole time. When I arrived in Colorado Springs, I had nothing but the best.

I have been tolerating the chemotherapy drugs well, with very little side effects. I am weak and lethargic but I can't tell if it is from the flu, which is the reason I went into the ER in Sheridan in the first place, or the chemo drugs. Either way, I am sure that I will gain the strength needed to come back and finish the school year. There is no time line here as of yet and it will all depend on how well the body responds to the treatment and when the docs feel comfortable about letting me come back up to Sheridan. I am guessing two, three, or four more weeks should do it.

I want to thank everyone for all the cards, calls, and prayers. I am supposed to be the hard ass here and the outpouring of people has made me quite humble. Sometimes one does not know how they are received or perceived until something like this happens and you have to take stock in your worth. Right now I believe I am the luckiest man alive with all my friends, family and college around me.

There is one more thing that I need to say to the criminal justice students and that is about the criminal justice program at Sheridan College. It is so important to understand that you, the students, are the criminal justice program at Sheridan College. This is not Dave's program or anyone else's. It belongs to the students. How you as students react to all this will be the determining factor in the worth of the program and your worth within the criminal justice profession. The program is not built upon one or a few people, it is built on a concept of what criminal justice professionals should be in our society. I have talked about this with each and everyone of you and you know what I say is true. That is why it is so important that you continue to continue on with what you do well. And that is to be good students. The college is on top of the situation and have made some changes to try to make all this work. It is a good plan and all the students should be able to fit into the process without a lot of problems if they remember why they are at the college and those lessons they have already learned. The proudest testimony you could give me, would be that all worked out well and learning took place, that the instruction was better, the students learned more and the school year was a great success. It is not going to be easy adapting to new teachers and new styles of teaching,but you can do it. I am so very proud of the way you guys are adjusting and coping with all this. Hang in there and we will all get through it, maybe better then before. Maybe, just maybe, I will come back with a heart..... NO! Probably not.

Thank you for all you do,

Dave Marquith "