RIP JR Rocha.

[B L U E S L A T E]

Originally Posted by Tina @ Facebook

R.I.P JR Rocha

Yesterday at 3:02pm

As a sit here laying in Tim's bed because I can't handle being alone....I can't help but sit here and keep telling myself this is all a horrible dream and I'll wake up soon and head down to High End in Camarillo for our monthly team meetings with everyone in Auto Concept to discuss our future plans and gatherings we'll have together. It's gut wrenching to think they'll never be the same because the heart of our team will no longer physically be there.

It's a bad movie...on repeat that just keeps playing in my head as I'm running around Ben's backyard having a water gun fight with JR's kids. Everyone else is sitting around watching the guys play basketball. Then I hear a strong, stearn voice with JR around the corner yelling at Adrian to knock it off. I can't help but sit here and blame myself to a certain degree on the following that'll happen. What if I stopped playing with the water guns and JR never had a 5 second yelling match with Adrian. Is that what caused his blood pressure to shoot up? Or was it the 3 games of basketball that he played that made him drop to his knee less than 10 mins later. It's a horrible picture in my mind with the whole team around JR yelling his name as Robert's frantically calling 911 and Winnie's sitting there with JR doing chest compressions. There's nothing I can do, but sit along the wall and pray that he'll bounce right back up and yell "gotcha" or something; after all, JR's a jokester and nobody ever notices when hes joking or what, but its when I was sitting above his head, with his eyes rolled into the back of his head and we hear ambulances and fire trucks coming. Did this seriously just happen? It can't be...he's too young, he's got way too much going for him, a beautiful wife, 6 children, a steady job as a nurse...we all depend on JR when it comes to medical problems, but what happens when it's him? The team goes into shock, and we can't do anything but sit there and hope that complete strangers can bring our brother back. Before the ambulances came, all I could hear is Jowe saying, HE HAS A PULSE. The paramedics came and I wasn't sure what they were doing. I walked up to BJ and asked him....he just said they're trying to stabalize his breathing...it was 3 minutes later, I hear the paramedic say, he's in full arrest. WHAT?! JOWE SAID HE HAD A PULSE, BJ SAID HE HAD A PULSE, WHY WHY WHY ARE THEY SAYING THERE'S NO PULSE. I sat against the wall, near Jun, as Jun kept saying GOD, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, NO...I sat there as I listened to the machine saying "shock advised"...and JR's body bounces. I went out front and tried calling my mom to have her sit and pray with my dad...I'm not religious, but everyone always says, the non-religious people always turn to God. I still don't feel its real....I called Billy, then I called Sam to tell them the news that JR was rushed to the hospital....It was just a few of us left at the house cuz everyone else left, but me, Tim, Robert, Brian and his gf stayed to watch the kids...we went upstairs to see what they were up to. All Adrian said was "wheres my dad? is he okay? whats wrong with him?" We didn't have the heart to say anything. I went out front to Ben's house, when I got the gut wrenching call from Sammo saying that he just talked to Jowe, and that JR didn't make it. It was that moment, I frikkin clenched Tim and screamed. This can't be happening....it was just a few hours earlier that we were sitting around BBQ'ing, not a care in the world, but basketball on everyones mind. How can this be happening so quickly, how can someone so amazing, so young be taken away just like that?

How can I be sitting here, screaming at the top of my lungs, crying my eyes out when there's so many other people around me that were so much closer to him. Oh wait, I know, in my mind JR was the HEART of Auto Concept. He was always there. I'm the newest member of Auto Concept, I've only done a couple shows with the team, but he was still my brother...Auto Concept is my second family. I always went to the shop and asked Jun where JR was.

I remember I got into a fight with my dad, and went to the shop, and just sat there in the back room talking to JR. The first show I did with Auto Concept was Spocom...I had car trouble and needed to drop my car off at World-Racing, the second I said that, JR said "I'll drive behind you and make sure you're safe"...that's the kind of guy JR was. He cruised to the shop with me, made sure I was good, and went back home. He always put others first, before himself. He was always there if you needed to talk to someone. Memories just keep playing in my mind, as we'd go to Ben's and JR was rushing down the court, as he would start sweating, and he'd jokingly be sexy and take the bottom of his shirt and put it through the top, and have his gut hangin' out. I remember sitting by the BBQ and laughing cuz, well, JR...you don't have a six pack, lol. Everyone would laugh at you on the court when you did such silly things....and now you're gone.

Anyway, I waited for Nick to come get the kids, and the rest of us went to the hospital. There were 50 people outside of the emergency room, as we all sat in the parking lot, tears streaming down all of our faces...we just lost another Auto Concept brother. I sat there debating if I wanted to say my goodbyes, and to see him one last time. Tim kept telling me not to, but I couldn't hold back, I'd regret it later if I didn't. I went in there with the priest as they said the final prayers and the Hail Mary...magically I still remembered it from high school. It was so surreal as I stood by his side, touching his lifeless body...it's still not real, it can't be, there's no way. It just won't sink in. I held his hand, as it was yellow and ice cold, and I kept thinking to myself, if more of us hold his hand, maybe the warmth will bring him back. I just don't know....JR, I love you, I know you're watching over us, and Auto Concept will NEVER be the same, High End will NEVER be the same. You'll always be the heart.

You have brought me inspiration, passion, and full of ideas. You were truly an enthusiasts that I looked up to. RIP man

[HYDROERIC2003]

r.i.p !

[ShanesG]

Wow that was damn intense, i never new the guy but reading that got me a lil teary eyed, i'm sure he was a great guy and that sucks RIP!

[JdM_G35]

yeah man, heard about it on sunday right after through a friend, real sad , jr was a cool *** mofo

rip

[Dustin@StrafeAutomotive]

wow

[Kuneff]

Originally Posted by ShanesG

Wow that was damn intense, i never new the guy but reading that got me a lil teary eyed, i'm sure he was a great guy and that sucks RIP!

Yeah, same here...

RIP...

[GreenGoblin]

Damn that is sad RIP.

[pythonjosh]

Sounds like he had an aneurysm. Wish someone had access to an autopsy report.

[kiss_kiss_kill]

No clue who the original poster was, but this is Tina...I wrote that note. Autopsy report came back as a massive heart attack & 3 clogged arteries. I overheard Ben (our club president) saying he was on Indocin, which is an anti-inflammatory medication. I did a little bit of research & one of the side effects is a heart attack without warning. Exactly what happened to JR since he didn't complain of any pains that would be related to a heart attack. He played 3 or 4 rounds of basketball that day, I'd assume the medicine kicked in a lot harder with all that strenuous activity. Another side effect is congestive heart failure. I'll be with the family during the next couple weeks & I hope they do a toxicology to find out what triggered it. He just had a physical last month, & had passed it. I don't know if the clogged arteries is something that could be from immediate congestive heart failure or if it was built up; since you can't figure that stuff out without doing an angiogram.

I love JR, he was my brother in Auto Concept, one of the guys I was definitely closest to, & he meant the world to me.

[pinkii]

R.I.P my prayers go out to his family

[Law to the Rence]

first turbo G37 from what i've seen

RIP, the G community will remember you

[zeroscythe]

damn that sucks.. i met him thro quin once a while back at aerodyne.. sucks to hear someone go out like that.. RIP

[LightsOut]

rip

[G-Ticket]

Originally Posted by kiss_kiss_kill

No clue who the original poster was, but this is Tina...I wrote that note. Autopsy report came back as a massive heart attack & 3 clogged arteries. I overheard Ben (our club president) saying he was on Indocin, which is an anti-inflammatory medication. I did a little bit of research & one of the side effects is a heart attack without warning. Exactly what happened to JR since he didn't complain of any pains that would be related to a heart attack. He played 3 or 4 rounds of basketball that day, I'd assume the medicine kicked in a lot harder with all that strenuous activity. Another side effect is congestive heart failure. I'll be with the family during the next couple weeks & I hope they do a toxicology to find out what triggered it. He just had a physical last month, & had passed it. I don't know if the clogged arteries is something that could be from immediate congestive heart failure or if it was built up; since you can't figure that stuff out without doing an angiogram.

I love JR, he was my brother in Auto Concept, one of the guys I was definitely closest to, & he meant the world to me.

Tina, I'm so sorry for your loss. His family is lucky to have such a good friend.

My brother passed away almost the exact same way, was playing basketball with my nephew then just collapsed. The cause of death was clogged arteries in his neck (can't think of right term). They told us the only way to know of this problem was an ink test, he had other test's just weeks before because his life insurance requested them. They listed him as healthy.

Unfortunately sometimes there are underlying problems that require specific test's to discover.

I will say a prayer for his family. Continue to be strong for them, they will need it.
Lisa

[kiss_kiss_kill]

Originally Posted by G-Ticket

Tina, I'm so sorry for your loss. His family is lucky to have such a good friend.

My brother passed away almost the exact same way, was playing basketball with my nephew then just collapsed. The cause of death was clogged arteries in his neck (can't think of right term). They told us the only way to know of this problem was an ink test, he had other test's just weeks before because his life insurance requested them. They listed him as healthy.

Unfortunately sometimes there are underlying problems that require specific test's to discover.

I will say a prayer for his family. Continue to be strong for them, they will need it.
Lisa

Thank you...seems like your brother had a lot in common with JR. JR had 3 clogged arteries; where they were, I'm not sure.