|
|
|
Iron Lung: A True Life Story
Changing The ToneChanging the Tone By Scott C. Smith 'The spirit of cooperation I have seen in this .....
She lived in an iron lung for most of her life. She inspired
others. Who was she?
"Comfort don't ever leave me," she says to me as she struggles
on her death bed. I hold her hands, trying to fight away tears
from my eyes. Her struggle now becomes weaker and weaker. And
then drawing a deep long breath, her eyes fixed on my face, she
dies. The hospital attendants wheeled her away to the morgue.
And I thought that the world had ended.
I worked for Hope as an attendant being a nursing-school
student. I was taken aback when I first saw this woman living
inside a tank called a respirator.
At first, I could not bring myself to ask her how she came into
this. As time went by, however, we become familiar and talked
freely together. Then one day when her husband came to see how
she was doing, I asked the question directing it to no one in
particular. I thought that her husband would provide the answer,
but instead, it was Hope that started her story.
"One black winter morning in 1948#8212;thirty six years after I
was born in Los Angles#8212;I discovered that I was stricken
with the deadly polio." She swallowed hard and continues.
"Things got bad quickly. From flu to paralysis and then to the
hospital where I added up to several polio patients on the
waiting list." She wanted to scratch herself but since she could
not do it herself, she called my attention to it, which I did.
And then she resumed her story.
"I was afraid. I thought that I was going to die. For I had to
Keeping The FaithWell I had a website that I was posting on but have since decided my writing works should be meant for friends and family .I have been writing ..... lie on my back on the floor of the crowded hospital waiting for
an Iron lung. But it was long in coming. Breathing was hard.
Then one day, I passed out. I did not know what happened
afterward. Job will tell you the rest of the story.
"When Hope fainted, I didn't think that she would come back to
life again" the husband continues. "The doctors must have been
some kind of magicians because after one week, my wife started
to breathe again. And before long, she was placed in the next
available respirator, much to our relief.
"These Iron lungs were at first thought to be a temporary
invention#8212;helping patients to recover#8212;and breathe on
their own later. But we discovered that the opposite was the
case. Because these breathing machines were to become the
permanent homes of many polio sufferers.
"Knowing this, I brought her home with the machine. And she has
been living inside it for the past three decades" he ended and
left the room, trying to hide his tears. I tried to fight back
mine too. I was trying to really understand what it means to lie
on one's back in one spot for over thirty years.
Her faith in God kept her going through the years. She was a
very devout Christian and she believed that her suffering was
only for a time. And she firmly believed that if she dies, she
will be resurrected to live again, pointing out what Jesus told
Lazarus's sister, Martha at John 11: 25 .
I must confess that I was not a Christian when I started working
for her. She was the one that preached to me and converted me to
Christianity. And that was what she did to numerous other
curious passersby and strangers who came to see her. Instead of
being encouraged, she was the one that encouraged her
sympathizers; and her faith in the Bible made many to become
Christians. She was always praying to God in behalf of herself
and others; and despite her condition, she was full of
compassion for people. In fact, her courage inspired all who
knew her.
Hope's only regret is in not being present at the wedding
ceremonies of her two children. For she was in the respirator
when the two teenagers became adults, married and had children.
She only saw the wedding pictures.
In fact, it could be said of her that she is a cat with nine
lives. Because on top of this, she had an emergency appendectomy
without anesthetic when her appendix burst, endured cancer, had
major surgeries and chronic skin disorders.
But there is a time for every affair under the heaven. Even a
time to live and a time to die. So, one day she went for her
seventh surgery. And after that she was removed from the Iron
lung for the first time in 37 years, attached to a modern
respirator using her tracheostomy, and placed on a hospital bed.
She was not getting enough air. Fear gripped her. She knew she
was going to die.
Three days later as she struggled for life, she spoke her last
words to me : " Comfort, don't ever leave me." I nodded. I was
holding her. I didn't want to cry. Then she died. Tears flowed
freely. After one week, she was buried in the city cemetery.
Wreaths of flowers covered her grave which was marked with the
words: " Here lies one who waits upon the lord." Darkness falls
on the cemetry. And we go home to mourn our beloved Hope.
Twenty years have passed now. I have since then grown from a
lady to a married woman with a family. Perhaps she has been
forgotten. But I still visit the grave yard on every anniversary
of her death to lay wreaths of flowers on her tomb.
Today is another anniversary of her death. And I take a bouquet
of flowers to lay on my friend's tomb. As I enter the cemetry, I
raise my eyes toward the gate and I see the words of Solomon at
Ecclesiates chapter 1 verse 2: THE GREATEST VANITY! EVERYTHING
IS VANITY.
I walk ahead to the marked tomb with the epitaph: HERE LIES ONE
WHO WAITS UPON THE LORD. I lay my wreath of flowers on Hope's
tomb and sit to think of this loved one who suffered and died,
waiting for the lord.
I was awoken from my meditation by a flash of lightning and the
roaring of the thunder. I looked up. It was going to rain. I
gather myself and kiss goodbye to Hope as I hurry home. As I go,
I remember her last words and I was ashamed that I was leaving
my friend. On my way, I walk pass the tombs of the governor, the
slave, the Indian and the war veteran#8212;all vanities. I step
outside the cemetry, look back and see those words again: THE
GREATEST VANITY! EVERTHING IS VANITY. But I remember Hope used
to talk of a bright future in paradise where sickness and
suffering will be gone. I was encouraged. So life may not be in
vain after all.
She took ill one black winter morning. My resolve now is to be
faithful to God so that I will meet my friend during the
resurrection in the coming new world. Then one bright summer
evening we would gladly hold hands together as we walk through
the gardens of paradise. And I will say to her: "I'm here, Hope.
You see, I never left you."
ARTHUR ZULU, an editorand book reviewer is the author of the
controversial book CHASING SHADOWS! : A Dream. (A book that
reveals the terrorists' master plan to finally set the world on
fire!) For a copy of the book and FREE excerpt, goto:
http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/21013 For contacts, mailto:
mostcontroversialwriter@yahoo.com
About the author:
ARTHUR ZULU, an editorand book reviewer is the author of the
controversial book CHASING SHADOWS! : A Dream. (A book that
reveals the terrorists' master plan to finally set the world on
fire!)
|
|
