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You Can Do Anything
By Tina Karratti
Many years ago, my dad was diagnosed with a terminal heart condition. He
was put on permanent disability and was unable to work at a steady job. He would
be fine for quite a while, but would then fall suddenly ill and have to be
admitted to the hospital.
He wanted to do something to keep himself busy, so he decided to volunteer
at the local children hospital. My dad loved kids. It was the perfect job for
him. He ended up working with the terminally and critically ill children. He
would talk to them and play with them and do arts and crafts with them.
Sometimes, he would lose one of his kids. In certain instances, he would tell
the grieving parents of these children that he would soon be with their child in
heaven and that he would take care of them until they got there. He would also
ask the parent if there was a message they would like to send with him for their
child.
My dad assurances seemed to help parents with their grieving. One of his
kids was a girl who had been admitted with a rare disease that paralyzed her
from the neck down. I don‘t know the name of the disease or what the prognosis
usually is, but I do know that it was very sad for a girl around eight or nine
years old. She couldn‘t do anything, and she was very depressed. My dad decided
to try to help her. He started visiting her in her room, bringing paints,
brushes and paper. He stood the paper up against a backing, put the paintbrush
in his mouth and began to paint. He didn‘t use his hands at all. Only his head
would move. He would visit her whenever he could and paint for her. All the
while he would tell her, see, you can do anything you set your mind to.
Eventually, she began to paint using her mouth, and she and my dad became
friends. Soon after, the little girl was discharged because the doctors felt
there was nothing else they could do for her. My dad also left the children
hospital for a little while because he became ill. Sometime later after my dad
had recovered and returned to work, he was at the volunteer counter in the lobby
of the hospital. He noticed the front doors open. In came the little girl who
had been paralyzed, only this time she was walking. She ran straight over to my
dad and hugged him really tight. She gave my dad a picture she had done using
her hands. At the bottom it read, thank you for helping me walk.
My dad would cry every time he told us this story and so would we. He would
say sometimes love is more powerful than doctors, and my dad - who died just a
few months after the little girl gave him the picture - loved every single child
in that hospital.
这是发生在儿童医院的一个故事。每次讲到这个故事，父亲都会流泪。他说，有时爱的力量要胜过医生的治疗。 |
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发表于 2016-7-10 11:36:34