A Tribute to Tom

Joe Freitas was asked for one line to discribe the styling of the Campbellini, This is what he wrote.


From the fertile mind of Tom Campbell comes the ultimate mix of science, art, engineering, and finesse. Born out of a necessity to create what had never been created before, the Cambellini started as a vision. What would a mix of classic British and Italian exotic sports cars and modern technology look like today? Tom answered that question in his quest to create something wholly original. To be a car designer in the U.S. is a tough life. You spend years toiling away in Detroit, working on the purgatory that is cup holder design, then maybe…just maybe, you get to design the next Ford family box, or the next Chrysler straight-to-rental-fleet special. For Tom, this just wouldn’t do. The Cambellini would be of a singular vision, wrought of singular hands. The designer started like so many other budding car designers; he sketched his ideas on paper. But that’s where the similarities between Tom and other car designers come to an end. The Cambellini leapt from the paper to a clay model, meticulously shaped and reshaped with his own hands like such fine pottery. Then clay led to steel, aluminum, fiberglass, leather, and rubber, all fabricated, formed, riveted, and welded by the man himself. Not everybody has all the tools to make an entire car from scratch in their shop though. Tom was no exception. But whenever Tom bumped up against a capability or tool he did not have, he made one! Many people these days in the custom car business throw money at the problem. Tom threw himself at the problem. Big car companies have to make many compromises. Not so with the Cambellini. A fully independent suspension designed and built from scratch by Tom would ensure proper racecar handling. If the engine is the heart of the car, then the rhythm of the Cambellini certainly came from a different drummer. The best engine Ford never made would sit immediately behind the driver and in front of the rear wheels. The Yamaha V6 SHO engine built for Ford’s hot sedan in the early 1990’s would fit the bill just fine, and satisfy Tom’s sense of individuality. The body? Hand laid fiberglass made using molds Tom made using a styling buck Tom made. Did I mention Tom made everything? And after years of toil and perseverance, the results of his labor of love are astounding. The instantly catchy Italian red Cambellini strikes a low, wide pose, with a slender waist and wide hips. The look is instantly breathtaking and confusing because of its distinct lines, yet the familiar influence of classics of yore can be discerned. Is it a Ferrari? A Jaguar from the swinging sixties? Is it one of the many European cottage industry supercars? No. It is much more special than that. It is the embodiment of the anti-establishment car. It is the free spirit in automotive form. It is speed, function, and fun, all wrapped up in an eye popping wrapper.

Tom never followed the pack, went with the crowd, or stepped in line with the automotive world. Tom forged his own path, his own unique place in automotive history, and he did it on his terms with no compromises. Is it art? Is it engineering? Is it hand crafted excellence? Is it open-topped nirvana for car guys and gals? Yes it is. It most certainly is.

He had no regrets

Tom just didn't bounce back after his last chemo like we expected. We really believed that he had licked the cancer or at least kicked it pretty hard. He started out October feeling crappy, and it just got worse. We found out in late October that there was still cancer remaining and that he had developed pneumonia. We will never know but it seems like the pneumonia must have been caused by cancer, because nothing we did made any difference. Tom was in the hospital for most of November, he just got sicker and sicker. He was able to have short visits with many of the people that were the most special to him but missed quite a few as well. About twenty five of us gathered around him in the early morning. He received a blessing from Mary & Steve Young's priest, and then we drank beer, screwdrivers and juice, toasted him and told stories. Tom passed peacefully at 6:30 Sunday morning, November 22nd.

He was 56 years old and said he had no regrets about his life. He felt nothing important was left undone. Even if he was unable to see his sons become men, they are old enough for him to see the men they will become and he was very proud of them. Tom died with his ugly old blue tea mug in one hand and a cup of beer in the other. I had to pry the beer from his hand. Tom to the end

There was Mass for Tom at the chapel at Mary's Woods in Lake Oswego, Tuesday, November 24th

Being in the CCU is the right place for Tom. His problems keep changing, some improve and new ones show up. Today his cough and breathing are much better, he is using something called a Bipac that pushes the air into his lungs for him. He had it on yesterday for a few hours and it really helped.

It's impossible to comprehend how we got here.

Relatives are coming in from out of town to visit. Some of our very closest friends have been able to pop in to say hello. The boys brought some of Tom's favorite pictures and things from home to decorate his room. They have been able to spend time just sitting with him. I am mostly in my recliner next to his bed. I got some sleep last night, mainly because they are so on top of it here, I guess that let me rest.

Emails and offers of support continue to be a great comfort.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Last night things went from bad to worse. Tom is now in intensive care.

He is now resting much more comfortably than when he came in about 3am. They are now treating the yeast, which is responding and at least the stuff in his throat is less bothersome. His breathing has improved, and a tube has drained the contents of his stomach, softening his belly quite a bit. This is some of the stuff I didn't talk about yesterday. I'm telling him that he's doing better, but he feels so bad that he can't feel the difference.

They still aren't sure at all of the real cause of the infection. This is all very scary.

Roller coaster

Many of you don't know that Tom ended up in the hospital with the pneumonia. At first they thought it was your basic pneumonia and treated him with your basic IV antibiotics. He was in that time for seven days and then went home being told to expect to feel crappy for quite some time. Three days later he was worse, so we got to come back in through the ER and this time he's been here for another seven days. Gradually getting worse each day.

He has a team of doctors, Oncologist, Internist, Pulmonoligst and Infectious Diseases. Each of these doctors has partners and associates and each of them has a slightly or widely different idea of what is going on. Tom has been on the heavy hitter trio of antibiotics, guaranteed to get any bug, except of course the one that he has. A few days ago he had a scope with a camera shoved down his lung to look around and take some slime samples. The cultures have been gradually coming back, negative for TB, bacteria, viral, MERSA, Flu and God knows what else. Finally today they said they had a positive culture for yeast. So we got all excited and I called a whole bunch of people and told them we had it figured out. Then the third Infectious Diseases Doc shows up and says he really doesn't think it's yeast in his lungs, but it defiantly is in his throat. He has now been started on the anti-yeast drug and is having another scoping tomorrow complete with tissue samples this time.

This is just a basic overview. Even just the highlights would be way too long. I have been at living
at the hospital full time. Catherine has stepped up beyond what I could ever have asked of anyone. She has replaced me at home, getting the boys to school, taking care of the animals and the house. Lots of other people have been jumping in and bringing food, driving kids and more. I have never felt more supported. The boys are doing good, it's tough on them but they really seem to be handling it.

I'm done trying to predict when Tom will be better, I'm just trying to look forward to him being better. We think chemo will start in a couple of days. Now that the cat's out of the bag, I'll try to do more frequent postings and you can all ride the roller coaster with us.

It's like blackberries!

I received this from our neighbor Laura Foster and it made me cry (in a good way). I love the analogy and optimism and wanted to share it.

Jan thanks for the update. I've been thinking of you, hoping that things are going well, and it is GREAT news to hear the cancer is so reduced. It's like blackberries: the first hacking and pulling shocks the hell out of them. Though they come back, subsequent pulling further weakens them, and soon they really don't have that much fight left and then one day you notice the blackberries are gone and in their place are some lovely sword ferns.

So we are hoping for sword ferns in Tom's near future.


Laura

I really hoped to be writing a celebratory blog today, but that's not the case. It's complicated. First let me say that it's not all bad news, it's just not what we were hoping for. Tom finished his chemo on September 29th and he didn't seem to bounce back like we thought he would, and then he developed a cough, then a fever, so he did a round of antibiotics and had his scans this Monday. The scans showed two things clearly, one, Tom has pneumonia, which explains sleeping almost round the clock and coughing his head off. The other thing it showed was that the cancer in his abdomen is still there. It is significantly reduced in size which is a good thing, but it's still there which means the fight is not yet over.

So Tom will take a double round of antibiotics this time, and the Dr. says it could take quite a while to completely recover from the pneumonia. After he is recovered, in four to six weeks, he'll have another scan that will hopefully prove that all the crap in his chest is just the pneumonia. Then we have to figure out what to do about the cancer. Might be able to have more surgery that will get it, perhaps more of the same chemo, or a different one.

To say we're disappointed is an huge understatement. We had hoped that the scan would show that Tom was cancer free, although I don't think we really believed it could be true. I'll hang on to the improvement that the chemo made and hope they can find something to beat it or at least contain it. Tom is having a hard time being optimistic at this point, being as sick as he is doesn't help.

Thanks for all your support, thoughts and prayers.

Jan