The Heart Transplant

The class sat in attention. Although most of them would quickly admit that Anatomy was one of their more challenging classes, they sat, as if spellbound. These medical students knew that their professor, Dr. Finley, was brillant and fair. Moreover, he managed to make this required class interesting, even though the workload often required late nights. Today's class was no different. Appreciating the fact that everyone was listening, Dr. Finley began to share a case study.

Meagan Clark was born with a hole in her heart. At the age of 15, she had been in and out of hospitals and operations. The doctors did what they could to fix her and often their methods would work, for a time. For a short while, Meagan could believe that she was finally the normal child or teen that she wanted to be. She'd run, laugh, and live with abandonment. A little too much abandonment, according to her parents. Her parents, Teri and Ryan, were obviously concerned for their daughter's wellbeing and often tried to discourage her from any activity that appeared strenuous or taxing. They knew, from experience, how quickly Meagan's energy could crash, causing her to be bedridden for days.

When Meagan was younger, the surgeries would give her strength for longer stretches of time. However, the older she got, the stretches of full strength got shorter and shorter. Shortly after her 11th birthday, the doctors determined that Meagan needed to be added to the transplant list, for a new heart. The team of doctors that knew Meagan were baffled by the fact that none of the surgeries seemed to help. The surgeries were standard procedures and many of their patients had gone on to have normal lives. The fact that Meagan's heart seemed to continue to weaken over time, was a mystery.

Over the next four years, Meagan got weaker and weaker, as the family waited and prayed and yearned for a matching transplant. One heart did become available when Meagan was 13 but it proved to not be a compatible match for her, causing the doctors to cancel the surgery at the last minute. Two years after that and the family was still waiting. Meagan was now at the point of needing full-time hospital care and the doctors believed that they only had a weeks left to secure a heart for her.

During this time, a man started helping out at the hospital. He volunteered with the chaplain's office, made rounds visiting the patients, offered this translation skills when needed, and would help in any way possible. Naturally, he quickly met Meagan and her parents and could regularly be found taking Ryan out for coffee, chatting and praying for Meagan, or bringing in a small snacks for her parents to eat.

One day, near the end, a doctor confided to this man that unless something happened very soon, Meagan would likely die. Two days later, the man returned, with a stack of papers in his hand, and offered the team of doctors a possible suggestion to save Meagan. The man offered his own heart. He provided all the medical papers he could scrape together to prove that he was in perfect health. He provided all the legal documents to release the hospital of any liability over his own life, while stating that he was of sound mind. His proposal was to give Meagan his heart and he would take hers. The doctors resisted this man's request but for every argument they made, the man seemed to have an answer. So finally, the doctors notified the family that a donor had been found. The next day, the transplant occurred.

With that, Dr. Finley got up and walked over to the podium and asked the class their thoughts on the story. A bit in shock over what they had heard, the students struggled at first to formulate their thoughts but within seconds the class had a great discussion going. Finally, after a few minutes, one student asked the question they were all anxious to know...what happened to Meagan and the man?

Dr. Finley shared that the heart proved to be an exact match for Meagan. After the transplant, she healed quickly...surprisingly quickly...and is now a normal 18 year old, attending high school. The doctors have cleared her for all activities and no longer need to see her, something that doesn't happen often with transplant patients. But Meagan's healing was so complete that without the long scar on her chest and her immense patient folder, the doctors would think that she had been born with that heart.

As for the donor, the man accepted Meagan's heart as smoothly as the operation could go but within hours, the man died. The doctors did what they could to save him but putting an infected, underperforming heart into someone else caused them to have low expectations from the start. In their minds, Meagan had been destined to die and now this man was destined to die. With sadness, and even a sense of having let the man down, one doctor, Dr. Adams, carted his body down the morgue. When he got there, the mortician was busy with another body so Dr. Adams signed in the body and then left.

Three days later, Dr. Adams ran into the mortician, in the cafeteria, and casually remarked on the one man's body that he had dropped off. Confused, the mortician claimed that he had found no such body with that patient's name. Both of them marched down the morgue, verified the check-in page, and then searched the morgue only to come up empty. Well...mostly empty. All they recorded finding, back in the corner, was an empty gurney with a white cloth, neatly folded on top, that didn't look like it had been used.

A silence settled over the class. Seconds later, the bell rang signalling the end of the class period. No one seemed ready to move or even aware the bell had sounded. They sat, not sure what to think. Never had they heard such a story. Was it true? Was this man possibly alive? How could that even be possible? In their stunned reflection, nobody seemed to notice that Dr. Finley had gathered his notes, briefcase, and jacket, and had stepped out of the room.

A wee story of a girl

Once upon a time, there was a simple family, who lived on a simple farm. It wasn't huge and there was no extravagant barn or house. Just small unpretentious buildings.

The youngest of this family was a small girl. If you saw her, you wouldn't necessarily think that she was anyone super special. She was neither beautiful or ugly. Her mousy brown hair hung down her back. Her eyes were hazel and attentive. Her nose was small and upturned. Her clothes were plain, often worn-in hand-me-downs, from her older sister and sometimes even occasional clothes from her older brother. She was the type of girl who could blend in because she never drew attention to herself. To top it all off, her name was Annie...a simple name for a simple girl.

Annie knew she was often forgotten or overlooked, not by her parents, but by those in the town. Her sister, Rebekah, was the family beauty. Everywhere she went, people's eyes followed Rebekah as she moved with grace and poise. Random people would open the door for Rebekah, allowing it to shut immediately after, which almost always was in Annie's face. With a small sigh and great patience, Annie would calmly open the door and catch up with her sister.

Annie's brother, Thomas, was also well known. He was clever and could fix just about anything. Anytime there was a problem, Thomas had suggestions. Plus, if being clever wasn't enough, Thomas was also an entertainer. Everywhere he went, he'd make comments, tell jokes or stories, or do some little trick that would have people laughing delightfully at his antics.

But lest you think Annie sad or neglected, there were two specials thing about Annie that made her stand out. She didn't stand out in great ways to lots of people, like Thomas or Rebekah, but in small ways that meant great things to a few people. These few people were also often neglected or overlooked: like old Mrs. Hanson who lived down the road, with her family a state away; or her classmate Paul, whose own parents didn't love him; or the mother across town, with three little children, whose husband had left. To these few people, Annie was their angel. Better than anyone else in her family, Annie had the ability to listen and a compassionate heart.

She would often run over to old Mrs Hanson house to help her sweep the house and bring in the firewood. She regularly invited Paul to come to her house for dinner and to play. She would even help him with his homework, when she could. And Annie would ask her parents for extra eggs or muffins and run them over to the mother across town, and then spend time watching the children while the mother cooked or cleaned. With all of them, she spent time listening to their pain and their stories. Then out of compassion, she'd help or pray or encourage them to keep trusting God. Each time Annie came, it was as if a fresh summer wind blew in their door and brightened their day.

Once upon a time, there was a simple family, who lived on a simple farm. The youngest of this family was a small girl. If you saw her, you wouldn't necessarily think that she was anyone super special. But if you really saw her, you'd find out that despite being simple, she was quite special indeed.

Stories Worth Sharing

For those of you who blog, do you ever have your mind swirling with thoughts but nothing seems worthwhile to put down? That's where I am. So I'll just share two stories of conversations I have had within the last week. I find one hilarous and one full of warm fuzzies.

1. Background: This took place at the food show I went to last week. At these shows I get to meet people face-to-face that I have conversed with number times over the phone. At this last show, I got to meet one guy (I'll call him "D" for this post) from California whom I get along with fairly well. Here's our conversation:

D: So how are you doing?
Me: Doing well. Keeping busy with school. How about you? How's work?
D: Things are good. I'm looking for a new job though.
Me: Really? You want to change companies? What do you want to do?
D: Sales.Yeah, I'm looking around...seeing what's out there.
Me: Well, I know what you mean. I'm ready to change jobs too.
D: What do you want to do?
Me: I want to be a missionary.
D: For real? Are you a nun?
**Momentarily stunned, this is the part where I start cracking up.**
Me: No....no....no.
D: Do you have a boyfriend?
Me: No but I want to be married. I'm not going to be a nun.
D: Oh good. For a minute I thought I was making a pass on a future nun.
Me: Oh geez...

2. Background: Last year, I was attending two churches over the course of four months or so. At this other church, I was helping with their youth program. It got to be too much for my schedule and I stopping everything with the other church. However, they are without a senior pastor now and their youth pastor is doing some of the preaching. I told the youth pastor that if he ever wanted a break from the youth lesson, I'd be happy to be a guest teacher. I had my first guest-teaching time this past Sunday night. After it was over, I had this brief conversation with one of the high-school boys:

A: Mindy, are you going to start coming here regularly again or is this just a one time thing?
Me: No, this is just a one-time thing unless Jesse (the youth pastor) invites me again.
A: Jesse, you need to invite Mindy to come again.
Me: Ahh....that's so sweet.

A Tale of a Pesky Love

Once upon a time, there was a sweet smelling girl. She worked in a small office, spending her hours using the computer, phone or fax. It wasn't an awful place to work but neither was it the most cheerful place. So she surrounded herself with plants. Nice lush greenery.

One day the sweet smelling girl noticed that a pesky little gnat was flying around her. She brushed it away and didn't give him another thought. The next day, the little gnat was flying all over, in front of her computer, near her face, and even around her coffee cup. This was much too bothersome. **SWAT**

After killing the gnat, she promptly didn't give him another thought. That is, until his brother came visiting. **SWAT** This his cousin came calling and drowned in her coffee cup...yuk! The another cousin came. **SWAT**SWAT**

They were driving her crazy. Why did these pesky gnats have to bother her? Is it because she is sweet-smelling or due to her lovely greenery? **SWAT** Another gnat bit the dust. She investigated her beautiful plants and none of them seem infested. Was her new perfume...the cause of her sweet-smellingness...to blame? **SWAT**

It seemed that no matter how many gnats she killed, she would soon see another flying around her desk. So one day she decided to not wear her perfume to see what would happen. And guess what?? She only saw one gnat that day. What's a girl to do?

All I Have to Say!

Once upon a time, in a land far away from somewhere, lived a people who could be found gathering and storing away nobbits and gadgets and gizmos…anything that made them happy. While the grandparents may have gathered and stored because they grew up with so little, the parents and children gathered and stored because they just wanted more. It didn’t matter that the houses were full, the garages were full or if their bellies were full…they just kept going to find more widgets and flodles.

Every once in a while, a person could be found who didn’t gather and store. When asked why, they would declare that their treasure was in another place. The others would shrug, conclude the treasure must be in a bank, and go on their way thinking that storing things in a bank wasn’t such a bad idea. After months and years of gathering, the people became known for their power, control, and possessions. Whatever they wanted, they got.

Unfortunately, the people in leadership, the king and his staff, were also gatherers and storers. Kings came and went; some were good and some were not so good. Some led the people fairly and with consideration while others spent their time only gathering and storing for their wealth and pleasure.

Every year, the people seemed to get worse and worse. Their gathering led to fighting over possessions. Their desire for more fladoodles made them think that they deserved to have as many fladoodles as possible, to the point that people owed more money to the banks and storekeepers than they could ever pay back.

Every year, the country seemed to get worse and worse. Their gathering led to fighting over possessions. Their desire for more zigbits made them think that they as a country deserved to have as many zigbits as possible, to the point that the country owed more money to the banks and other countries than they could ever pay back. So after a few years of huge gathering, the country suddenly realized it was broke. The people started having a hard time finding enough money for the things they really needed. Homes were taken, cars were sold, along with lots of nobbits, gadgets, gizmos, widgets and flodles. But this didn’t stop the king and his staff from spending money! The king and his staff believed that in order to help the country, they needed to spend even more money. So, within a very short time, the country owed more money than they had ever owed before or could even comprehend.

Despite this, people all over the world seemed to adore the king, even though it was because of him that they country owed lots of money. The king gave promises that he would make life better, fairer, and easier for everyone. The previous king didn’t make a lot of people happy so to have a new king who gave promises and seemed kind, made lots of people love him. In fact, everywhere this king went, he was treated with extra love and attention, even more than the kings of the past. The king could seem to do no wrong, even though it was because of him that the country had no money.

Every once in a while, a person could be found who didn’t like what the king was doing. But people didn’t listen to them. The king promoted equal gathering and storing for everyone and started changing laws or making decisions to create fairness. This caused people to be angry but nothing seemed to change. In fact, the king was even awarded a prize for his words that promoted fairness and equality. But what people didn’t realize is that the king and his staff were starting to control more and more of the country and the people, which made things less safe. While the king said that he only wanted to help people, all he ended up doing was helping some people gather more and forcing others to gather less, while spending as much money as he wanted.

Once upon a time, in a land far away from somewhere, were a people who could be found gathering and storing, who had a king that gathered and stored, and none of that helped any of them be any happier.