"Spin_Out's" Health Declining

I just visited Mark ("Spin_Out" on this forum) Lasota and he asked me to post a note to his many friends here. Many of you know that Mark has been battling cancer since last fall. His body has not responded well to the treatments and his condition has deteriorated in the last few days.  On Monday night he was moved into a Hospice facility.  Mark cherishes the friendship of his GRM buddies, and appreciates your thoughts and prayers. 

The address is Sun City Center Hospice House, 3723 Upper Creek Drive, Ruskin, FL 33573. That is right off I-75 southeast of Tampa. He has his cell phone, same number as always, and you are welcome to PM me for that number. He is currently able to receive visitors, calls and texts.

Update 5/6/2019: Mark's suffering is over. He left this world this afternoon, after just a week in Hospice. Thank you all for your calls, texts, cards, and prayers. See additional information in my later post in this thread. 

Danny

Oh no!

Let him know I fired up the MR2 after I got it home, 7 year old gas, straight pipe in a residential neighborhood and all. After it settled down into a rough high idle I gently goosed it a few times. Satisfied it was only making the right kind of nasty noises I gave it a quick full throttle stab-the throttle stuck at WOT!  It sounded damn good over 7k RPM and made a nasty backfire when I shut it off.  I guess my new neighborhood knows me now. 

Sending my thoughts and prayers his way.

In reply to MrJoshua :

That will make Mark smile.

I’m so sorry to hear of this. I hope all comes out as well as it can. 

Thanks for the update, Danny. I was thinking about and texted Mark on Tuesday. I will try and get over there this weekend. Please let me know if there is anything I can do.

Crud. My prayers are with you, Mark

Damn.  berkeley cancer.  Seriously.

I'll be thinking of you and your family, Mark.

We’re thinking of you Brother!  Sending love.  

Wtf. That sucks. 

Thanks, Danny.  I sent Mark a note.  Boxster is great - about 800 miles so far.  It will live forever in my family's memory.  My oldest son is spending the last four weeks of college driving a Porsche before he (temporarily) gives up driving and moves to downtown Boston to become a train-riding, Ubering urbanite.  My youngest son will always answer the question "what is the first car you drove >100 MPH" with "Boxster."

Damn. 

My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. 

I’m so sorry to hear that about Mark. Cancer does indeed suck. :(

glueguy said:

Thanks, Danny.  I sent Mark a note.  Boxster is great - about 800 miles so far.  It will live forever in my family's memory.  My oldest son is spending the last four weeks of college driving a Porsche before he (temporarily) gives up driving and moves to downtown Boston to become a train-riding, Ubering urbanite.  My youngest son will always answer the question "what is the first car you drove >100 MPH" with "Boxster."

 

Glad to hear everyone is enjoying Mom's Porsche.

I’m glad I was able to check out the gearhead yard sale and swap some stories with spin_out last month.  The sander I bought is now a permanent part of my tool collection, and every car it touches will have a little spin_out DNA.

Very sorry to hear this.

I wondered what happened when I saw the garage sale posting. Very sorry to hear about this.

I'll be carrying him with me in my thoughts on One Lap this week. Let him know we're driving around thinking about him.

Thanks for posting Danny. 

Mark (and Tod) were the first two people I met when I attended my first challenge. As I was unloading my car, they walked up and introduced themselves. I remember Mark really liked some of the things I had done for the build that year. They really made me feel welcome and that my effort and ideas in building the car were valuable.

That's a major difference between most events and the challenge. At most events, people are too focused on their own cars to really consider all the cool stuff in attendance. Mark is a true example of the spirit of the challenge and has made the event better. A good reminder for me and everyone to look a little harder and dig a little deeper to see what we can learn from and appreciate in others.

Stay strong, Brother. We love you.

A rough week around here indeed.  Prayers and vibes for no pain.

This gives me some serious sads.  The head I bought from the garage sale will power our Lemons car for years, it will run in his honor.  

I lost my best friend and father to cancer many years ago.

My favorite picture of Mark...

From this thread where Mark wrote:

This is Tod and I at the $2016 Challenge. Tod is holding his General Tire Challenge trophy (and some borrowed booze), I'm holding the Participant Award John W. gave us. Thank you John. The '94 R-code Miata won the Mazda Choice award. Our shirts say, Cobra Kai, All Valley Karate Championship.

I have said many times that The Challenge is greater than what actually gets conveyed by the written word and still photos.  You two are a big part of that Greatness!  

For those that may not know, these are the entries that make these two Challenge Royalty: 

$2007 Fiero,  $2008 Fiero,  $2009 Civic,  $2010 Mustang,  $2011 TR8, $2012 TR8 - 4th,  $2013 Ka-Bluey,  $2014 Ka-Bluey,  $2015 Ka-Bluey,  $2016 MX-5

This is the famous Ka-Bluey: 

The picture doesn't do it justice but if you zoom in you will see that the rear spoiler is actually a less functional aftermarket spoiler then reversed to make it more functional.  

Another Ka-bluey pic: