Take a moment to think about your grandpa, whether he is still alive or has passed, I hope that he had some significant imprint on you. In honor of my grandpa's birthday this past week I figured it is only necessary to share what a great and honorable man he was.

His name was Marshal Martin, but he liked to be called Mickey and to me, he was Papa Mickey. He was born on November 18, 1932, in Los Angeles, CA. His life wasn't perfect and later in my life, I had learned of some of the tragedies that got him to be the amazing man he was.

He had a brother who was in a head-on collision on the way home from prom, which then left him to be an only child.

Unfortunately, six months later, his father passed away.

He later married my beautiful grandmother, and they made sure to fulfill their dreams of traveling just about everywhere you could think of.

They did it all.

My grandpa was many things, but the biggest thing was that he was a fighter and a survivor.

When my grandpa was 66 years old he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which is a chronic and progressive movement disorder. With age, this disease only got worse and lasted until he passed away, which resulted in him being sick with it for 15 years total.

Then, at the age of 77 years old, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He had radiation treatments which did help, however, his cancer came back a year later.

When he became very sick they took their last trip to their favorite place, the Hawaiian Islands. His dream was to travel all over the world, and he sure did conquer that.

Even though he got sick, he didn’t let anything stop him from doing what he wanted.

The doctors told him he only had about one year left to live, yet he fought for about three more to the day of April 15, 2013.

He was one of the longest survivors in California with that specific type of cancer.

Throughout his sickness, there was not a single day that he complained, instead he lived life day by day like everyone else and tried to enjoy it.

He was a fighter.

The most important thing I learned from him while he was sick was how important it is to not let anything get in the way of living your life. He was always so happy and never complained.

Even when he felt horrible, he was a trooper.

As much as I wished he could have lived longer to watch me get married someday and have kids, I will always be able to cherish the memories I made with him as well as all the lessons he taught me in life.