The Washington Post, July 22, 2007, Sunday

Copyright 2007 The Washington Post

All Rights Reserved

The Washington Post

July 22, 2007 Sunday

Regional Edition

SECTION: METRO; Pg. C07

DISTRIBUTION: Maryland

HEADLINE: Labor Official Found Joy in Family and Kept Pain Under Wraps

BYLINE: Matt Schudel; Washington Post Staff Writer

BODY:

In the mid-1960s, Michael Lescault was one of the finest high school athletes in Massachusetts. He was the quarterback of his football team, captain of the lacrosse team, a talented baseball pitcher, an excellent skier and, with his older brother, a champion doubles player in tennis.

Upon graduating from Holyoke High School in 1965, he accepted a scholarship to the prestigious Hotchkiss prep school in Connecticut, where Lescault (pronounced LESS-koh) spent a year as what he called the "ringer" on the football, lacrosse and rugby teams. Notre Dame was said to be interested in him for football, even though he was only 5-feet-7 and 155 pounds.

What he lacked in size, though, he made up for with a fiery, determined spirit. Over the years, his injuries included six concussions, nine broken noses and one ear torn off in a rugby match. (It was sewn back on.)

"Mike was incredibly competitive," said a longtime friend, Phil Comstock. "He was also the most courageous person I've ever met."

After a year of college, he went to Vietnam as an Army sergeant and saw combat. Returning home, he promptly joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts and, in 1975, received a master's degree in labor relations from Cornell University.

Early in 1986, after more than five years as an AFL-CIO labor organizer in southern Africa, the 39-year-old Lescault -- still in his athletic prime -- climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Within weeks, he became seriously ill, and his wife, Elisabeth, drove him to a hospital in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

He was on the operating table when his aorta, the main artery leading from the heart, ruptured. He lost virtually all his blood, and no one expected him to live. Doctors sealed off the inch-wide aorta and gave him emergency transfusions.

As best as anyone can tell, an ulcer in Lescault's bowels caused an infection that led to an aortic aneurysm. He stayed in the hospital four months, much of that time in a coma. His incisions didn't heal, and he went into septic shock. When he finally awoke, he was paralyzed from the waist down. He hallucinated for months.

In July 1986, Lescault left Africa with his wife and toddler son and came to AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington. He settled in Cheverly and tried to restart his life.

"When we got back, I really did not have any hope that Mike would live very long," his wife said. She asked a doctor, "Can I have him till he's 60 years old?"

Surgeons implanted a prosthetic aorta, and after two years of rehabilitation, Lescault was able to climb out of his wheelchair and walk with the help of braces and canes. He regained some sensation in his hips and upper legs, which helped his mobility but caused such constant pain that he could sleep no more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time. Yet he seldom spoke of his physical ordeals -- or of the earlier trauma of Vietnam.

"He never let people know what happened to him," his wife said. "He never let people know how handicapped he was. He never let people know he was in a world of pain."

Lescault went back to work with the AFL-CIO and, in 1995, was sent to Paris as the union's European liaison. He walked all over Paris with his canes, knew the bus system by heart and loved going "from brasserie to brasserie," as his wife put it.

When he returned to Washington in 1998, he had a key position with the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, an organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO. In December, he was named deputy executive director.

"To say that Mike was well-liked would be an understatement," said Ellie Larson, the Solidarity Center's executive director. "He was well-loved."

One of his employees, Danuta Dobosz, said simply, "I've never encountered a better boss in my life."

In recent months, Lescault often remarked that he was happier than at any time since he had been in Africa. He took a cruise to Alaska last year with his wife, a successful potter and ceramic artist. He was close to his four brothers, two of whom work in Washington. (Younger brother John Lescault is a well-regarded local actor.)

In August, he went back to Africa with his son, Matthew.

"On the Africa trip, he and I really bonded," said Matthew, 24. "We weren't father and son -- we were friends. In my eyes, he was the best father you could ever ask for."

Not long ago, Lescault told Comstock, his friend of 32 years, "I'm not saying I don't want to live a long time, but if I went out now, it would be great timing."

On July 1, he went to bed and never woke up. He died July 3 at Prince George's Hospital Center from aneurysms caused by blood clots in his carotid arteries. He was six months past his 60th birthday.

GRAPHIC: IMAGE; Family Photos; Michael Lescault, shown during Army service in Vietnam, saw combat. Returning home, he joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

IMAGE; Lescault was "well-loved" the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, where he worked.