To those who knew him, he was indeed one in a million.

From his family, to his co-workers, to the innumerable number of patients he treated over the course of his four-plus decades at his practice in Palmerton, the legacy left behind by Dr. John Nicholson is unparalleled.

Nicholson passed away on Jan. 18 in his Palmerton home surrounded by his loving family at his side. He was 82.

A graduate of Marian Catholic High School, Dr. Nicholson practiced medicine for 41 years on Delaware Avenue in Palmerton, where he was also known to be an avid walker with his wife of 52 years, Joanie.

According to one of his daughters, Betsy Nicholson Hanavan, her parents were out walking on Nov. 11 when Dr. Nicholson began walking funny, circled a dog a few times, and collapsed.

“I got a call from my mom that he had fallen,” Hanavan said. “My dad didn’t just fall, he collapsed; the whole side of his face and head was destroyed.”

It became obvious that he was confused.

The initial blood work showed metabolic issues which led to a kidney biopsy. Nicholson was diagnosed with Goodpasture, a rare autoimmune disease.

Initially Hanavan said the family thought he would be spending Thanksgiving at home, but two days after he got released from St. Luke’s Carbon Campus, the additional biopsy results came back and they were notified he would have to go immediately to St. Luke’s Bethlehem to have the treatment.

“It’s one new case reported annually,” she said. “They put a central line in, clean your blood, put it back in.”

Hanavan said Nicholson’s family spent Thanksgiving with him down at St. Luke’s in Bethlehem.

“We tried to make it really special for him, because we wanted to celebrate together,” she said.

Treatment

Hanavan said the second component was massive doses of IV steroids and chemotherapy.

“About nine days into the treatment, my dad was having pain, and they realized he was in severe pain, so they did an ultrasound and realized his bowel had perforated,” she said.

Hanavan said Nicholson had a surgery bowel resection, which doctors said was incredibly risky, especially because he wasn’t in the best of condition.

“He survived the surgery, but a few days later while in the ICU, he had a heart attack,” she said.

His lungs filled with fluid, he developed hospital confusion and his kidneys were failing.

“At one point we thought we were going to lose him, so we had a Catholic priest come in and do last rights, and we asked the hospital how we can get him home,” Hanavan said. “Much to our excitement, he started to rebound, and it seemed like he was getting better.”

On Dec. 10, Nicholson celebrated his 82nd birthday.

The family had asked for greetings from the community and his former patients.

“An infinite number of “Thank you’s” wouldn’t begin to express the gratitude we have for the tremendous outpouring of support. Yesterday, on his 82nd birthday, you all helped us give our hero the greatest gift of all for his birthday - the gift of unconditional love,” Hanavan posted on Facebook.

On Dec. 11, he was in congestive heart failure and had to go back to St. Luke’s Carbon, she said.

After several complications, the family brought him home with hospice care on Jan. 10.

“The best thing is when he came home, the hospital delirium he suffered from, he knew where he was,” she said. “We had some really great conversations, my sisters, my mom, my dad’s brother will forever be grateful for the time that we had.”

Caring, compassionate man

Judy Fredericks, who worked with Nicholson since he opened his practice in Palmerton in 1979, was with him for over 40 years.

“It was a good run; it was great,” Fredericks said. “I was very lucky to have worked with him and over the past couple of weeks since he got ill, I have had a lot of thoughts and memories.

“It was the best decision I ever made applying for the job, and I’m very grateful to him for hiring me. He taught me a lot, and I watched him; he was so caring and compassionate to his patients and it was just like no other.”

Fredericks, of Summit Hill, said it isn’t quite like that these days.

“If you needed time, he was there to listen, and he was just a very good man, and I have all good things to say about him. “He just was one of a kind.”

Fredericks described his compassion.

“He was just your old-fashioned doctor and he had those kinds of values; he made house calls,” she said. “He really gave his life taking care of people.”

Fredericks said she had nothing but “good words to say about him.”

“There will never by another Dr. Nicholson, never ever,” she said. “He took care of families, everybody came to us, you got his time once he saw you, he was a remarkable man.”

Fredericks said that on the day he retired, “that was so hard for all of us.”

“I loved my job, and I loved working for him and with him,” she said. “His family, they’re great people; family was everything to him. He loved his family, he really did.

“He was just a special guy. I know he’s in Heaven. He’s a Saint.”

Linda Wilk, of Palmerton, worked with Dr. Nicholson for 33 years.

“He was a wonderful man to work for, he really was,” Wilk said. “He was very kind, he cared about his patients, every one of them.”

Wilk joked that because she lived in Palmerton, she never got a snow day off because even when it snowed, he would pick her up.

“He was very devoted to his family; loved his family with all of his heart. And his wife, especially, she was like his queen.”

Wilk said it was a pleasure to have worked with Dr. Nicholson for so many years.

“It was like being a family member,” she said. “He cared about all of us.”

Hanavan said that to his family, Dr. Nicholson was truly their hero.

“My dad was the kindest, most genuine man, and he always was good to people; he went out of his way to help anybody and everybody, and never expected anything in return, and if more people lived in that fashion, the world would be a better place,” she said. “The love that he had for my mom, my sisters, the love for his patients, the love for his community; he truly loved with every ounce of his being.”

Hanavan said the family is “honored and humbled as we read the comments,” which shows “the magnitude of his reach and the impact that he truly had on so many lives.”

“The way that this town has truly expressed their sympathies, and just the kindness, it’s really comforting to know how loved he was,” she said.

His obituary appears on page 4.