PINEHURST – Kurt Lomac had a favorite quote when he was impressed with how well his colleagues, friends and family were doing.
“You are living large,” he would say.
Lomac learned what those words really meant when he was diagnosed with esophageal and liver cancer and turned to his local hospice to learn how to “live large” as he battled terminal cancer.
On Saturday, June 23, beginning at 8 p.m. at the Broad Street Bar and Grill in Southern Pines, the classic rock band Paradigm Shift will perform a benefit concert in Lomac’s memory. Band member Jay Lomac wants to celebrate his brother’s life as well as raise money to benefit FirstHealth Hospice & Palliative Care.
There is a $5 admission fee.
Kurt Lomac overcame a long addiction to alcohol and drugs and lived the last six years of his life in total sobriety. His sobriety was in and of itself a big accomplishment, but Lomac also was able to acquire his CPA license and create his own firm with more than 150 individual and corporate accounts.
He traveled all over Europe and eventually got married. If anyone was “living large,” it was Kurt Lomac.
After Lomac’s April 13, 2012, diagnosis, his doctors sent him home, prescribing pain management and encouraging quality of life. For the next 30 days, thanks to the loving care provided by his wife Nancy and the stellar care of the local hospice organization in Ocean City, Md., his quality of life was the best it could be under the circumstances
“It is difficult for families to bear this sort of thing alone, but with the wonderful work of the caregivers of hospice organizations nationwide, it somehow makes it bearable,” says Jay Lomac.
FirstHealth Hospice & Palliative Care offers an 11-bed Hospice House to provide the community with the end-of-life resources to care for patients who need more acute medical care than can be provided in the home. It also offers a team of professionals and trained volunteers to teach family and friends how to care for their loved one at home.
All aspects of the patient’s physical and emotional needs, as well as the family’s support needs, are confidentially assessed by the Hospice & Palliative Care team.
The Hospice campus also features a Grief Resource & Counseling Center that is free and open to anyone in the community. Central to the campus is a chapel that offers a place of serenity, solace, healing and comfort for those dealing with a serious illness or the loss or impending loss of a loved one.
For those unable to attend the upcoming fundraiser but who would like to make a donation, call 695-7500 or mail your gift to FirstHealth Hospice Foundation, 150 Applecross Road, Pinehurst, NC 28374 (Write “Rock for Hospice” in your check’s memo line.)
