Last Sunday, spurred by Deacon Roy Reider’s sermon on prayer, Jeff and I discussed answers to prayers, particularly those that are answered - but not quite in the way you’d hoped or intended. Jeff said he used to pray that he would become a good speaker and be able to address a large group of people on a topic he knew something about and that would be interesting to an audience. He laughed and said he felt he could speak about his bone marrow transplant experience to an audience of any size. He said this fell under the category, “Be careful what you pray for.” Jeff has an opportunity to test this skill.
Our plans to meet Jeff’s donor,
Nicole, and her family over the Labor Day weekend have been foiled. We were making plans to meet half way - a
six-hour drive for Nicole and a six-hour drive for us - near Raleigh, NC, for a
camping trip. Nicole’s family are
outdoorsy plus Jeff hasn’t been camping since his transplant and has decided he
misses it. The idea of the meeting taking
place in a quiet campground was appealing.
Nicole emailed to tell us that she
and her husband are buying a house and settlement is August 29th. She was very disappointed to postpone the
meeting but we are, of course, very happy for her family. We immediately began looking at dates in
October. We could not camp over the
weekend of October 19th since we are committed to the Light the
Night Walk but we were otherwise available.
Nicole would be traveling to Boston in October so she thought maybe a
meeting could be arranged around that trip.
Our plans have been foiled
again. The meeting will not take place
in Raleigh or Boston or Morrisville but in Paramus, NJ!
On Friday Jeff received a call from Barbie
at Gift of Life. Barbie asked Jeff if he
would be willing to meet Nicole and, together with Nicole, lead the Mel Cohen
Memorial 5K for Gift of Life on October 6th! They would have an opportunity to say a few
words and they are to exchange signed photos of each other. Gift of Life will pay for Nicole to fly from
Atlanta and stay in Paramus for two nights and for Jeff to stay one night so
they can attend the event and then have an extra day to spend together. Barbie had already spoken to Nicole who gave
her a “yes!”
Jeff thought it was a 5K walk (no problem)
only to realize that the event is probably a run and that Nicole will probably
leave him in the dust. He thought he
could train in the next two months so that he could jog at least part of
it. On second thought, he decided that
since he sometimes cannot feel his feet, running was probably not a great
idea. He plans to buy new sneakers –
finding shoes that don’t hurt his neuropathetic feet is tricky – and then
walking more regularly in preparation for the event.
We emailed Nicole and arranged a phone
date and then emailed our kids to share the good news. On Saturday we waited for
the prescribed time for Nicole’s call – I was a little giddy, Jeff more
reserved.
Nicole’s enthusiasm was
heartening. It was exciting that Gift of
Life’s invitation firmed up our meeting plans so nicely. We wondered how they chose Jeff and Nicole for
this honor. Nicole said she’d asked
Barbie that very question and was told it was her interest in running, possibly
because she asked at the time of her donation, “When will I be able to run
again?” I wondered whether it was also because
Jeff shares a diagnosis of MDS with Mel Cohen, the man honored by this event. Mel Cohen was, evidently, a great guy who
worked in social services for 30 years (how did he get MDS? I wonder). Use the Gift of Life link at right to read
more about Mel Cohen and this event.
We are a little concerned that our fundraising
efforts for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society may be diluted a bit because
these two events are only two weeks apart.
We will rely on the generosity of our friends and family and see what we
can do for each of these worthwhile organizations.
Prayers of thanksgiving for Gift of
Life’s invitation to Nicole and Jeff and for the good work they do in matching
patients and donors.
