Eusebio “Figgie” Figueroa

A husband, a brother, and a grandfather

Eusebio Figueroa was born on September 20, 1936 in Puerto Rico. He married my dad’s mom in 1977. He made his living as a chief pump man on tankers, also known as large steam ships. My grandfather was a heavy drinker and smoker for many years. Up until the age of 60 he was considered a healthy man. At the age of 61, he was found to have high blood pressure. In 2003 my grandfather made a trip to Puerto Rico to attend his brother’s funeral, which had died of a heart attack. During this trip Eusebio became disoriented and was admitted to the hospital. At this time he was released from the hospital and returned to Houston, where he admitted himself to Methodist Hospital. Figgie had trouble eating and was vomiting frequently.
The doctors at Methodist could not determine what was wrong with him, so they did exploratory surgery; it was then that they diagnosed him with Pancreatic Cancer in September of 2003. The cancer was too advanced for any kind of treatment. They gave my grandfather 3 months to live. My grandfather continued to smoke and drink regularly. Figgie deteriorated fast and only survived 2 months. He never complained of any pain but was given morphine on his final days by the hospice nurse. Grandpa “Figgie” lost his battle on November 21, 2003. My grandpa was a fighter in the everyday life, but this is not a fight you can always win. I miss you “Figgie”.