I was greatly saddened to learn yesterday of the untimely demise of Kevin “Hognose” O’Brien, who ran the excellent Weaponsman blog site, a mixture of weapons lore, gun politics, and Kevin’s own unique brand of blarney.
Although I never met him, Kevin and I became acquainted earlier this year when he linked to one of my posts on the Whitworth rifle. He became quite interested in Civil War arms (especially Whitworths), bought a copy of my book, and often linked to my blog posts here. He was a genuinely engaging fellow, and an Army veteran like me, though in his case he was a Green Beret.
I will let Kevin’s brother Brendan tell the story.
…. on Saturday morning I got a call from the Portsmouth Regional Hospital. He had called 911 on Friday afternoon and was taken to the ER with what turned out to be a massive heart attack. Evidently he was conscious when he was brought in, but his heart stopped and he was revived after 60 minutes of CPR. He never reawakened.
On Saturday, he was transported to Brigham and Women’s where the medical staff made absolutely heroic efforts to save his life. Our dad came up on Sunday and we visited him Sunday, Monday, and today. Each day his condition became worse.
As of last night, it was obvious to everyone that he had almost no chance of survival; and that if he did by some chance survive, he would have no quality of life. Kevin’s heart was damaged beyond repair, his kidneys were not functioning, he had not regained consciousness, and he had internal bleeding that could not be stopped. We made the decision this morning to terminate life support.
So adios Kevin. We will see you in Valhalla.
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