One last meeting

A Gastonia Police officer and his cherished friend gathered for a much-needed reunion in Dallas on Friday.

Cancer's cruel side effects have left a once lively and sociable Andrew Michalak confined to a wheelchair, slow on speech and few on days left to enjoy his friends and family.

Stage 4 lung cancer has spread to his brain and his bones, but it hasn't destroyed the Gastonia man's spirit. Officer Jarod Ewers needed to see him again, even if that visit had to be held in the Robin Johnson House hospice center.

"I wish he had more (time)," Ewers said. "He's got this character that needs to be blown up out here. I truly wish he had more. I know when I first talked to him the doctors said he may have up to five years. I was really hoping for five."

Doctors estimate Michalak has no more than eight weeks to live, according to his sister, Dorothy Westbrook.

His time could've ended already had it not been for an incident on Jan. 18, 2017. The longtime Hooters cook was driving home from work that afternoon when he suffered a seizure and hit a car parked outside the LifeWay Christian Store in Franklin Square.

Ewers believed Michalak was impaired, possibly on synthetic marijuana. Michalak, then 40, reached for an ice scraper, but officers at the scene thought it could've been a gun. Ewers wrestled the man to the ground before things could get worse, placed him in cuffs and drove him to the jail.

"I'm grateful," Michalak says now. "He saved my life."

Ewers quickly realized upon arriving at the jail that Michalak wasn't on drugs, and that he shouldn't be arrested.

"His demeanor had changed drastically," he said. "There were no signs of impairment."

Michalak asked him to call his boss at Hooters, who confirmed he had had seizures before.

So Ewers took Michalak on another ride, this time to the emergency room. Doctors found lesions on his brain, but needed a couple more weeks to make a firm diagnosis.

After they confirmed he had Stage 4 lung cancer that had spread to his brain, Michalak sent a letter to the police department.

Ewers couldn't believe what it said.

"It's not to tell me that (he has cancer)," Ewers said. "It's to tell me, 'Thank you.'"

Michalak believes the diagnosis at least gave him more time to fight, and a chance to get closer with his friends and family.

"I'm just thankful to be alive," he said.

Michalak claims Ewers saved his life that day, but the officer says it's actually the other way around.

He thanks Michalak for changing the trajectory of his life and encouraging him to become more spiritual. He keeps Michalak on his church's prayer list, and even brought him a prayer blanket made by women at his Newton church.

"He allowed me to experience something that I truly hadn't at that point in time," Ewers said. "Which was someone having something so traumatic, a death sentence given to him. No questioning about it, no wondering why, no wondering at all. Just, 'I trust, I know it's going to be OK. With him doing that it made me realize that I hadn't trusted the Lord like I should've. Ultimately that led me to work to a path where I'm trusting the Lord with everything I am."

Westbrook says her older brother has taught her the importance of living every single day.

"Faith can bring you peace and not only that it gives you strength in adversity," she said. "He's just shown how strong he can be in light of a dire situation."

Michalak hopes to leave hospice care and return home before he dies.

You can reach Adam Lawson at 704-869-1842 or on Twitter @GazetteLawson.