Lorenzo Perry, my dear friend of ten years, passed away at 4:15 AM on Thursday, August 12, 2010. He did not, I’m broken-hearted to say, go “peacefully”. Lorenzo started noticing symptoms at the beginning of 2010, and was diagnosed with esophagus cancer on April 22. He had been undergoing both chemotherapy and radiation treatment. His doctors told him his condition was curable, and that he'd be fine by his birthday (October 17th)! But, in late July or early August, he contracted a double infection in his pericardium. I was the unfortunate person to watch helplessly while he expired. I held his hand, caressed his head, and whispered encouragement to him; urging him to keep fighting and breathing. It was (and is) devastating to me. I loved Lorenzo very much.
He grew up on the south side of Chicago, and attended Bowen High School. He worked, at various times, at the Museum of Science And Industry, at the food court in the Thompson Center, at Northwestern University in Evanston, and did odd jobs, for the now-defunct Frankie J's on Broadway, as well as passing out fliers and doing day labor.
Lorenzo was like a sweet,lovable puppy; he loved unconditionally, and he was utterly guileless; he did not have a malicious fiber in his whole being. He hated nobody, and didn't even habitually use such words as "hate". I never knew anybody who could legitimately assert that he had wronged them. He was the sweetest guy in the whole world. Lorenzo always “accentuated the positive”.
Lorenzo loved to eat, and could cook up a storm (he prepared wonderful entrees, salads and other dishes). Lorenzo loved music, either listening to it, dancing to it, or, on the occasion he found himself in front of a piano, playing one of his favorites, most notably “Chariots Of Fire”. He loved playing computer Pinball, and had been improving at an impressive rate (he was beating the pants off me!).
He was a quick learner; I taught him how to use e-mail and the Internet, and he'd recently begun exploring the possibilities of these technologies. I discovered, through our increasingly extensive correspondence, that his vocabulary was better than most people probably knew. Lorenzo was learning by leaps and bounds, casting off old habits and otherwise growing as a human being.
I'll never get over Lorenzo. For me, the world has changed irreparably; I am inconsolable.
Whatever else can be said, Lorenzo Perry deserved better!!!
Joseph Barazowski, August 14, 2010-Heartbroken and Lost
