Brian Barczyk In Hospice

[dakski]

I am saddened by this news.

I am not sure if I have written about it here, but Brian got me back into reptiles hard core after my kidney transplant. I had a couple of corn snakes and a Beardie before my surgery, but was told I couldn't care for them because of a (purposefully) reduced immune system. I re-homed the corns and my ex-wife said she would care for George, my Bearded Dragon.

Well, she did not and I had to. I realized then, and after research, and speaking with Brian (more on that in a second) that taking reasonable safety precautions when cleaning was enough. 11 years and a reptile collection later, and I have yet to get sick from them.

I met Brian at the White Plains, NY reptile expo back when his YouTube channel was just starting up. He was still mostly a breeder and was going to shows and selling the animals he bred. I spoke to him about loving his passion and that I wished I could still keep reptiles. He told me to do my research and that he had a friend in Australia, who bred Carpet Pythons, and had a kidney transplant as well. He said he was careful and had over 300 snakes and had yet to get sick from them. This encouraged me to research more about it. The bottom line is people fear what they do not understand and doctors are more interested in being safe than sorry. That is fine, but they spoke about reptiles more out of fear and ignorance than fact.

Figment, my corn hypo lavender corn, and Frank, my Blue Tongue Skink, both came from BHB Reptiles. I remember Brain spending several phone calls and time discussing Figment's purchase. He spent almost an hour (in aggregate) with me discussing pros and cons of corns vs. milk snakes (the other snake species I was interested in at the time). I settled on Figment and he has been awesome and is handsome animal. Brian's wife, Lori, spent similar time speaking with me about Frank's purchase. Both arrived happy and healthy and are still doing great. Figment is 11 this year and Frank will be 9.

Brian's passion is contagious and evident.

Last night I got a text from a friend about Brian and Katie opened his YouTube channel. I was suddenly hit with the reality of this situation and for Brian and his family. I also lost a friend 3 years ago to the same cancer and at basically the same age.

Brian has been an inspiration both with reptiles and how he has handled his health issues.