Richard Mathis

Homeless for the last 15 years in San Diego, in and out of Father Joe's Village men's dorm, getting his meals at that facility, his mail at Neil Good Day Center, roaming the streets looking for work.
He was waiting his turn for housing on a seemingly endless list, when he was hit with the harsh reality of mortality. After falling on an escalator in Horton Plaza, he sat down to let his dizziness subside. The dizziness never went away. In fact it got worse. So he got himself to a hospital where a series of tests revealed congestive heart failure.

Mr. Mathis recounts carefree childhood in Arkansas where he and his siblings, four sisters and one brother, would play all day in the woods, fishing, hunting frogs, building tree houses and getting as dirty as possible. "There wasn't an avenue we didn't explore when it came to having fun," he said, sitting on the edge of his small bed in a studio apartment downtown.

His smile was interrupted by a deep cough, and he reached for the oxygen tube coiled by his pillow. His dog leaped on the bed and made herself comfortable at the foot of the bed, waiting to be scratched. Mathis explained that his oxygen production level is about a third of what normal lungs produce. He said doctors have given him about six months to live.

Before that time is up, however, Mathis plans to marry his live-in sweetheart Laura White, who helps him get around in a wheelchair, does the shopping and takes care of any other health issues that compromise Mathis' comfort.