To me, he will always be "BATMAN".
I was supposed to meet him at a car show in Milwaukee in 2009. But 2 days before that, I ended up with 6 coronary artery blockages, and the doctors wouldn't let me leave the hospital for fear I would have a massive heart attack.

Three weeks ago, I wrote Adam West to try to get an autograph. I wrote him a nice fan letter. I had NO idea he was sick. I doubt I will get any response, even though it was well before he died.
I was 9 years old when Batman was first on TV. I never missed an episode. I STILL watch it.

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Cheesey, my father passed from Leukemia as well . I'm sure that medicine has advanced sense 1983, but the results were the same in both cases. Adam West though made it to age 88, a long life in my opinion.

For those not familiar with Leukemia , it is basically Blood Cancer . It can strike early or late in life .

I and many others question what medical research has been doing with the Billions already spent searching for the Cure ? Are the Big Drug Companies holding back knowledge in favor of profits ?

As for Adam West, his role as Batman was , IMO , his destiny . His previous work in mostly TV Westerns did not merit any larger roles . If not for the Batman role , West could have been a good Professor on Gilligan's Island or a Soap Opera Actor . The Batman role colored the remainder of his life and stereotyped him as the Batman. That can't be easy for an actor that wants to do other characters too , yet that one character overshadowed the rest of his life . They say he accepted and learned to live with it, but we don't always confess our most private thoughts, there had to have been some unspoken regrets.

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Oh, I'm sure that's true, Smokey. The original TV Superman had the same problem trying to get roles after that show.
But the way I see it, they at least got to be "stars". How many WISH they had a role that was that memorable?

And as far as your Dad.....I'm truly sorry to hear you lost him to that horrible disease. I also wonder why, with all the money they take in, they have no cure yet. Same with muscular dystrophy.
It almost seems that they hold back to make sure the money keeps rolling in.

With father's day coming next Sunday, I also have been feeling the loss. My Dad died at age 44 in 1974 of a massive heart attack. And he lasted 2 weeks in the hospital. Had his doctor not had his head up his "you-know-what", he probably could have saved my Dad. Had they did open heart surgery, instead of just having him lay in the bed and wait, he could have lived a long life.
I had quadruple bypass surgery 8 years ago, and still am doing pretty well.
My father in law had several open heart surgeries in the 1970's, and lived until 1994. And he smoked and drank all the time.

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