My Dad's Legacy

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My family is touched by the outpouring of support shown to us over the past week. Thank you for all the flowers, letters, food, and hugs. A little more than 600 people came to the Funeral home to pay their respects to my Dad. Here is my speech from the Funeral: My dad was not a boy scout, but he could have been. He was always prepared. I was cleaning out his work truck when he first got sick. I found 3 sets of handcuffs, 4 pairs of sunglasses, 2 pairs of reading glasses, a polaroid camera, hundreds of rounds of ammo, a 40 caliber, shotgun, AR-17 rifle, 2 first aid kits, 5 jackets, 2 pairs of pants, 15 baseball caps, a blanket, MRE’s, 6 sets of silverware, and a 7 year old can of Beanie Weenies. He has taught me to be prepared for just about anything life can throw at me. He had 3 loves in his life: his family and friends, the ABC, and the University of Tennessee. For those of you that don't know, ABC stands for Alcohol Beverage Commission. For a long time, my sister thought my dad taught people how to say their ABC's. He loved his family and friends so much. If you really knew my dad, then you know that if there was anything you needed all you had to do was mention it to my dad once and it would get done, usually on the same day. Growing up my dad didn’t have a lot of things so he made sure that my sister and I always had anything we wanted. There were years where he and mom didn’t buy anything for themselves at all so that Kendra and I could have what we wanted for Christmas or be able to go on a school trip. I don’t think he missed one football game, school play, or softball game, or clogging competition. No matter where he was in the state with the drug task force, he always found a way to get home and be at the game. There was one Friday Night football game that he delayed having surgery so that he could watch me play. He loved the ABC. He loved doing his job. He enjoyed the camaraderie, he respected his friends and colleagues Mike, Deborah, Donelle, Wade, Jack Blackman, Bob Gaskell, Mr. Cathy. He talked about you all the time. He loved and respected all of you. He would want me to ask if anybody could please help Mike out with paperwork and to not mess up the catalogue system in “his vault”. He enjoyed doing inspections and meeting new people. He especially enjoyed helping a new business owner navigate the regulations and get their restaurant or liquor store opened on time. He was fair, believed in second chances,and gave people the benefit of the doubt. He loved the University of Tennessee. If you have been to his office, been upstairs in his house or seen him dress casually, you have seen his love for the Vols. In life my dad was an optimist but in sports he was a pessimist. If things were going well, he would wait for a fumble or interception to screw things up. If things were going poorly then he would change the channel or leave the room for a little while. If they did good while he was not looking the he would stop watching until the last 5 minutes. He was convinced that his watching the game could potentially bring bad luck. My dad did not want today to be about being sad but instead, a celebration of his life. My dad touched a lot of lives and helped a lot of people. When the news of my dad’s illness got out he received prayer cards from states all over the country, food baskets from liquor stores, friends and former colleagues, most with orange ribbons and bows. A couple of ABC Agents drove here from Memphis to bring his favorite BBQ. Kyle Van den Bosh of the Tennessee Titans even called my dad to wish him well. I have even heard stories of people that have not been in a church for years going to church to find out why something so bad can happen to such a good man. Wow, that is what I call making an impact on someone’s life. I have a lot of good memories of my dad. Going to football games together and working in the garage. I will always remember my dad when I am sitting in our seats at the Titans games and when I hear Rocky Top.

Andy Woodall July 1, 1952 - March 7, 2008

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Andy_Woodall Dad passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday at 11:35 am. I want to share some intimate details of his last 48 hours with you. I was able to make it in on Wednesday morning and talk with him before he went to sleep. When I got off the elevator and entered the long hallway leading to his room I was greeted by a sea of his friends. The crowd parted for me and I entered the room. My dad saw me and said, "there's Shane, Dear God thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me see my family one more time." I hugged him. The Hospice Chaplain shared with me that in her 10 years working there, she "had never seen anyone more loved than this man." My dad's last 24 hours were spent with his family and friends surrounding his bedside. We recalled stories of my dad from childhood, when my sister and I were growing up, his career, etc. Dad would wake up occasionally and tell us that he could see his angels, and that he wouldn't hurt anymore. He shouted with all his might "I love my God, you have always been here for me, I am coming home, I am home...please let somebody here take this experience and use this to help them." Any time someone would walk into the room, he would shout their name say something about them and tell them he loved them. "There is my Beautiful Mother-in-law, you were always so good to me and you made the best cornbread, I love you." When asked if he could see heaven, dad replied, "Yes, it is more beautiful than anyone could ever imagine. Dad went to sleep around 11:00 am on Thursday morning and didn't wake up again. In his final moments with his family around his bedside, he tried to lift up his head, he moved his mouth and tried to say he loved us, but could not make any sound. We told him that we knew he loved us and that we loved him and that he didn't need to say anything. A tear ran down his cheek, and he was gone. In his last few weeks, dad participated in a research study with Vanderbilt hospital, to help determine the cause of this type of Brain Tumor. Not a lot of information is known at this time about the causes of this aggressive disease. In leu of sending flowers, please make a donation to help fund this research, see details at the end of this entry. Here is an excerpt from his obituary that provides details about the funeral services: His remains rest at the Ligon & Bobo Funeral Home, 241 West Main Street, Lebanon, where the family will receive friends on Saturday from 4-8 PM and Sunday from 12 Noon until 8 PM. Funeral services will be 3 PM Monday, March 10, 2008, at the West Hills Baptist Church with Rev. Brad Brandon, Shane Woodall and Mike Cawthon officiating. Interment will follow in the Wilson County Memorial Gardens. The family will also receive friends on Monday from 1 PM until service time at the West Hills Baptist Church. He is survived by his wife of thirty six years, Deborah Nettles Woodall; two children, Shane (Jessica) Woodall of Brooklyn, New York; Kendra (Bobby) Jordan of Lebanon; granddaughter, McKenzie Jordan; brother, Ronnie Woodall of Lebanon. Memorials may be made to the Vanderbilt Brain Tumor Center, % Coleman Harris, T4224 MCN 1161 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37232-2380 or to the Alive Hospice at Skyline Madison Campus, 500 Hospital Drive, 2nd Floor, Madison, TN 37115.

My dad Update #5

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I have been back in New York for about a week. I was able to spend 8 days with my dad. I stayed up with him at night; we talked a lot. He described what he wanted at his funeral in great detail. He informed me of who he wanted as pall bearers, who he wanted to sing and and play organ, that he wanted to be buried near his parents, what pictures he wanted displayed, and that he wanted something UT Vols..."it doesn't have to be a Vols Casket, because they are expensive, but put out some of my UT stuff on a table by the casket." Dad feels like his time is very short. He has told us that he doesn't want to be a burden on anyone and that he hates for us to see him like this. He told me to take care of Mom when he is gone. Today my dad was experiencing some intense pain. Mom called an ambulance. Dad was taken to UMC where they started to administer Morphine to ease the pain. He had x-rays and blood tests. Dad has a very bad case of Pneumonia. It's so bad that his right lung is barely even working at all. His kidneys are failing. The decision was made to take dad to a Hospice Facility. He is resting comfortably and getting quite a bit of Morphine to ease the pain. He feels like he is about to pass away and is at ease with that realization. He has said goodbye to everyone. I was able to talk to him on the phone tonight for a few minutes. He told me that he loved me very much, that he was proud of me for having my own business, to take care of my family, and to tell Edwin thank you for the Phillip Fulmer Autographed football that he won a few years ago and gave to my dad, because it will be on display as one of his prized possessions at the funeral. My Dad is a great man! He has touched a lot of lives and will be sorely missed.

Fatherly Advice

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This morning, advice from my dad paid off. The year was 1995, I was getting ready to go to College and my dad prepared a box for my car with various roadside emergency items. One of the items he placed in the box was "HEET Pressurized Lock-Thaw". He said someday your locks are going to freeze and you are going to need this. I said "Ok dad" (sarcastically). I have had it in the box for 13 years. I have moved literally 15 times since then. Whenever I move I always go through my belongings and try to throw out all non essential items. I pick up that container each time and think to myself "I don't need this crap, I am going to throw it away" but for some reason I was never able to throw it away. Two days ago I was unpacking our last few boxes from the most recent move and I found it once again. I didn't throw it away. Wouldn't you know it...this morning my locks were frozen. I thought to myself, "holy shit he was right". I get the lock-thaw and I shoot it into the lock and the door opens right up. Thirteen years later the advice from my father finally pays off.

My Dad Update #4

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Dad came home last Friday, February 8. He has a hospital bed setup in the Living Room. An Ambulance transports him to and from Vanderbilt's Oncology Clinic for Radiation treatment. He is very happy to be home. Having dad at home is more challenging for mom because she is up every 1 -2 hours to assist dad. When he was in the hospital mom was able to get a full nights sleep. Now they are both exhausted. Thankfully, members of their church and friends have been bringing dinner every night so that mom doesn't have to cook. I am heading home tomorrow to spend 8 days with dad and to give mom a break.

My Dad Update #3

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My Dad was transferred to Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital on January 8 several hours after my last post. He receives two 45 minute sessions of Physical Therapy, two 45 minute sessions of Occupational Therapy, and one 45 minute session of Speech Therapy Five days a week. As you might imagine this makes my dad very exhausted. In the past 3 weeks he has received literally hundreds of visitors, many fruit and candy baskets, and cards of support from all over the country. All this attention makes him feel very blessed to know he has touched so many lives. Unfortunately, I had to fly back to New York on the 17th. Hopefully I can go back in a couple of weeks. Now my mom and sister have to do all of the work by themselves. I wish I could be there more... This morning, mom called to tell me that dad had a seizure and stopped breathing around 2:30 in the morning. Luckily, his roommate called the nurses for help. My dad is ok now. The seizure left him very scared and emotional (probably a mixture of the seizure and the medication prescribed for the seizure). He lost a lot of the physical improvements that he has gained from the Therapy. His coordinator at the hospital has pushed back his release date to at least Feb 8. He is eager to go home, but needs more time to build up his strength. He began the first of 30 Radiation an 42 Chemotherapy Treatments today. This makes him even more tired and with less energy to participate in rehab therapies. Thankfully he has not felt any nausea that often accompanies Chemo. Please continue to keep my family in your thoughts and prayers.

Update on My Dad

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I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for the emails phone calls and prayers. It is wonderful to know that we have so much love and support. My dad has had nearly 70 visitors over the past 3 days. His office ran a shuttle bus today bring over everyone in shifts. Several of the Agents he trained over the years drove in from 4 hours away just to see him. He is in relatively good spirits considering...We left the ICU today and moved into a regular room. Today was the first day of rehab. Tomorrow or Wednesday we should be moving to an inpatient Rehab Hospital so that Dad can learn to adapt and hopefully be able to walk a little. He stood for a few minutes today which is really good but very difficult. He is working very hard. When he is able to stand up and walk on his own a little he can leave the rehab center and go home. That is our goal. I spoke again with the Neurologist today. The pathology reports confirm stage 4 Brain Cancer Glioblastoma Multiforme (the worst there is). We have an Oncologist that spent 15 years training and working at Sloan Kettering, so we are in good hands. Unfortunately, at this stage, we are in a "salvage quality of life phase." We have to balance salvaging mobility and independence (slowing the tumor growth with radiation) with radiation sickness and many other complications. IF the radiation works, we MIGHT get 1 year. If his tumor doesn't respond, it will be a matter of months. As you might guess, everyone is in shock. This came out of nowhere! Please continue to keep the family in your prayers. And thank you so much for everything.

My Dad

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It has been a tough 48 hours or so...for those of you that don't know. Late Wednesday evening my sister called to let me know that my father was in the hospital and that they initially suspected that he had a stroke. After an MRI, it was revealed he had a tumor in his brain. My Aunt who is a nurse at the hospital immediately had him transferred to Vanderbilt University Hospital. At Vanderbilt he was given a high contrast CT scan which revealed the severity of the tumor. The tumor is about 6 cm in diameter and due to the depth and location it could not be removed. Yesterday afternoon one of the top 10 Neurosurgeons in the country performed a dangerous surgery to remove a tiny piece of the tumor for biopsy and testing. The surgery went well. Dad is in the ICU and is fully alert and aware and able to have visitors. He has very limited mobility on his left side and can no longer walk without assistance. We spoke with the Neurosurgeon last night about the prognosis. He said the the tumor is an extremely aggressive form of Brain Cancer and that we needed to start radiation therapy ASAP in an attempt to slow down further growth. This type of tumor will not shrink with radiation or Chemotherapy. As the tumor continues to grow there will be more complications. I left the room to speak frankly with the doctor. He told me that there would be a very tough road ahead and that people don't typically recover from this type of tumor. So this prompted me to ask for a time line. The doctor spoke of his 25 year experience with this type of tumor. His words...best case scenario 4 years; worst case scenario if he doesn't respond to radiation is 6 months; the average is about 14 months. Those months/years will be filled with continuous Radiation, Chemotherapy, and Physical, Occupational, And Speech Therapy to limit the deterioration of gross motor skills. I wanted to ask for your thoughts and prayers as we go through this difficult time. There are new treatments available everyday and miracles can occur. but as it stands right now, things don't look good. I will pass along further updates when they are available.

New Home Video of the World Trade Center Attack

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I just found this never before seen video that someone filmed from their apartment window only 500 yards from the World Trade Center the mornig of September 11, 2001. It shows the arrival of the first Fire Trucks, the towers falling, and is better than any of the news footage out there. The people did not release it until now because they thought it would be inappropriate. Now 5 years later they are showing it for the first time. I have a lot of respect for them becaue they did not sell this footage. I am sure they could have made a ton of money. They posted it for free on the internet on a sight much like Youtube. You must see this footage. Here is the link http://media.revver.com/broadcast/59686/video.mov

Photo Gallery and Video Gallery

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I have just made some major updates to the site. I have set up Gallery 2 a photo gallery program that will manage all of my photos into albums much like the online services like kodakgallery and snapfish. You will find all my photos here. I set up Broadcast Machine a video gallery program that will manage my videos into seperate TV Channels. You will find my video gallery here.

Minor changes to the site

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As you might have noticied, I am doing some minor tweaks to the website design. The Photo Gallery has been completely redesigned. If you click on the first picture from any of the sets then you will be able to access a slideshow by clicking on the "play" icon on the top navigation bar. Each photo will display for three seconds before cycling to the next one. This is a direct link to a few Christmas 2005 Pics

As I begin my 29th year...

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I know, I know... this is my first actual text post in some time. Many of you have been listening to my Podcast. Thank you. There will be more shows coming up in a couple of weeks. So I guess that I am supposed to feel old (at least that's what my wife says) but I don't. I pretty much feel the same way that I did when I was 24. That is when I first moved to NY. Sure, plenty of things have changed - I was married, I started my own Business, I got a new dog, etc. - but at heart, I still feel the same. What does year 29 have in store for me? I am guessing pretty much more of the same. "What is the point, Shane?" As long as you feel young then you can do any thing.

Podcast Coming Soon

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In the next few days, I will be creating a podcast. For those who don't know, a podcast is an audio recording that is posted to a website that you can download and listen to on you computer, ipod, or other mp3 player. The coolest part about it that you don't have to keep coming back here to look for new episodes, although you can if you want. You subscribe to the podcast using a piece of software known as a podcatcher or ipodder. This software goes out and looks for your rss feed and sees when it has been updated and downloads the audio (or video) file for you and puts it on your computer, ipod, or other mp3 player. Think of it like any other rss or news reader. Probably the best description that I have heard of podcasting is TiVo for radio. iTunes 6.0 is the pod catcher that I use to listen to my favorite podcasts. The show...Random BS or Radio BY Shane (RBS) will feature me and occasional guests talking about all kinds of topics...Tank and Bam Bam, Madden 2006, CPR and AED, Football, Life in NYC, LOST, and any other RBS I am obsessing about at the time. Send me you comments and questions via email or better yet audio file. Consider this an open invitation to anyone who would like to be on the show... we can skype.

Jury Duty Part Deux

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Day 2 of Jury Duty... After 7 hours of wasted time yesterday I am back for day 2. They only selected one group of potential Juriors yesterday which is actually good news for me. If I can make it through today and tomorrow with out getting selected, then I am home free and will not have to serve on an actual Jury. Yesterday I took several naps. Today I think I will try to get some work done...or maybe a nap. The guy behind me is snoring. If they didnt take my camera phone at the door, then I would have posted a pic. Oh well...At leas I have the chance to catch up on podcasts that I have not had a chance to listen to.

Jury Duty

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As I sit here in the jury room of the Manhattan Supreme court, I am wondering....is there a better way? Why have I been here for 3.5 hours and they have not even called one single person to participate in the selection process. What a monumental waste of everyone's time. We need a new system. Why not select people who really want to come to these things rather than forcing people to come to them. For example...you are a stay-at-home parent and they force you to come all the way down here in person to tell them that you can't participate because you have no one to take care of your children. At least there is a free internet connection.

The Wedding Video

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It is finally here! The Wedding video has arrived. I am making copies as I type this. Mom your copy will be mailed first thing tomorrow. The video quality is very good, it has a lot of nice transitions and filters. I now have documented evidence of how poor a dancer I really am. Jess and I were just reliving the beautiful day that was. I hope to eventually put some clips up here on the site, maybe next week I can get some alone time with Adobe Premier and generate some clips. Tank is doing well. He is experiencing the puppy equivalent of Terribe Two's. Jess's new sofa cove lasted all of about 3 hours until it was shredded. Let me tell you there is nothing quite like being Peed on by a Puppy at 3:00am. Bam Bam has been quite the teacher...he has taken tank under his wing. He showed his little brother how to play tug of war and fetch as well as how to bite into the roll of Charmin and TP the entire house. Good times!