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One day-a normal family
homework and music lessons
football stats and Sports Center
job stress and daily chores
a kiss before bed.
Family life.
The days flow by, seemingly unnoticed.
Then one day life is turned up side
down..
a stomach ache that won’t subside
internal heat
weakness and pain.
What is stealing my child’s health?
The sirens are for us as through
blinding snow we speed to Madison.
The Emergency Room.
He is poked and prodded through the
night....
and each time my heart breaks.
Finally an answer is given.
A viral cancer.
Why a child? Why MY child?
The most unfair of all God’s tricks.
The weeks crawl by.
He doesn’t speak.
He lies naked on the bed, covered only with
tubes I understand and still fear.
We read to him constantly
massaging him with the sound of our voices.
We are here. You are here.
Be brave. Be strong.
Finally, one day, an angel in nurse’s
clothing appears.
She sees my need and asks the question,
“Would you like to hold him?”
To hold him again....
I can hardly remember the feeling
and realize I feared I would never
know it again.
The child who needs a million hugs a day.
To hold him. Yes. Thank you.
As she lifts my dying child into my arms
the sorrow finally surfaces.
No longer can I deny the twist of fate that
brought us on this journey to hell.
I finally accept and weep.
tears of confusion
tears of sorrow
tears of hope....for myself
and for my son.
Tears I fear may never stop.
And somewhere within the darkness of
the
moment, there is faith.
in God? in medicine?
in the mystery?
I send Ross my hope...and it is met by his
strength.
We both know he will survive and our
courage is restored.
We struggle through the months of
chemo.
we laugh, we cry.
we travel to Madison.
The news is good.
He plays his trombone. He plays soccer.
He lives and loves his life.
He is a miracle.
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