Hello all my Tiger friends, My name is Don Saucier (AKA Tiger_Patriots). I'm 58 and I have been married to the most wonderful woman in the world for 33 1/2 years now. We have two wonderful kids, a son 29, and a daughter 23. Our son and his fiancee have been together for almost 14 years now. They will finally get married on Feb 4, 2007 and they'll be rewarding us with our 1st grandchild on June 4th. They're really looking forward to this and so are we.

I was born in a small town in northern Maine on the Canadian border. I speak French fluently. I never spoke a word of English until I was in the 4th or 5th grade. I am retired and disabled. I worked on submarines as a rigger for 20 years at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. I had to retire at the young age of 55 in 2003 when I couldn't work any more. If it wasn't for my wife, I probably would not be here today. I served our country in Viet Nam in 1969-1970 and I was exposed to agent orange. I then came down with stage 5 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. I was diagnosed in Jan. of 1993. I'm also type 2 diabetic on insulin. I take insulin 4 times a day. I have had 2 bone marrow transplants (1995 & 2004). I have had what I consider the best doctors in the world at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

The first doctor that I saw in 1993 is still my personal doctor. He's like a Father to me. He's told me from day one that I can call him up or page him any time 24 hours a day and he'll call me back right away. Now that's a good doctor, don't you think?

The last donor that I had came from Germany. I had to wait 2 years to find out who and where he was from. After 2 years they gave me his e-mail and home address. I immediately e-mailed him and told him how happy I was that he had saved my life. He e-mailed me back in German (because he doesn't speak English) and I had to get it translated. He told me that he was extremely happy that he could help me. He told me that he was 34 and he and his fiancee had a baby boy last April. They just got married last August. I sent him a Christmas card this past Christmas. He rewarded me with a picture of him and his family. I have that picture hanging above my desk and I thank God everyday for him.

Well, so much for my medical history. Let me tell you a little about my wife. She's going through a bit of a rough time right now herself. About a year and a half ago she came down with shingles in her lower back. That can be very painful if any of you know what that is. And from that day on it's been a struggle for her.

She was also diagnosed about 9 months ago with hypo-thyroid (low thyroid) and she's now on medication. The medication has to be adjusted from time to time until they can finally come up with the right dosage to bring the thyroid back to normal, which it finally looks like they might have. With this thyroid problem it made her tired all the time and with the shingles in her lower back she has had a very hard time sitting comfortably for any extended period of time. She can't sit on any hard surface at all. She has to sit on soft pillows all the time.

She also has arthritis in her lower back, so that has compounded everything. But like she has for me, and I keep telling her that all the time, I'm always by her side. I keep telling her that she was by my side for the 14 years I fought cancer that it's now my turn to take care of her. And that's how it will be for the rest of our lives together.

Now let me tell you how I became a Tiger and joined this wonderful family that we have here. I have always enjoyed playing spades, but I had never played it on line before. One day I was just exploring different rooms on the zone. Almost immediately when I entered the backyard Maggie greeted me with a friendly welcome that I will never forget. She invited me to join her team, which I did almost immediately. I'll always be grateful to her for helping me join this wonderful family. I just couldn't believe how friendly the people in the backyard were. And they made me so welcome that I will never forget it.

It's been probably about 3 years now since I found you and I wish I would have found you a long time ago. And Tiger_CanDo has also become a very close friend of mine. It's just like I've known her all my life. She's helped me so much since I've been here that I will always be grateful to her for that. I wish someday I could all meet all you guys personally, but I'm sure that's just wishful thinking.

Now that I've told you all about me in a nutshell, let's go out and play some spades and have fun. See tou at the tables!

Email: Tiger_Patriot