Salute To Courage

"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.

The news of Hope's death spread quickly. She was not a princess. But
even the heavens shook on the day that she passed on. Soon her
Hollywood neighbors and the newsmen start pouring in. And before long
the death of the woman who survived 37 years lying flat on her back in
an Iron lung-the longest record in human history-appeared in the
newspapers and television. But how did I come to know her? you may
ask.

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. I don't know, dear reader, if you have been priviledged to
see one of those early Iron lungs. These contraptions were rounded
tanks, about six feet long and three feet wide, fitted with gadgets.
They were made to assist polio patients with paralyzed chest
muscles.

Now, picture Hope in this tank. The whole of her body is inside the
respirator except her head. She could only move her head since her body
was totally paralyzed from the neck to her feet (though she could still
feel). She could not do any of the things that all of us take for
granted. Like eating with her hands, using the toilet or bathroom,
playing with her children, sleeping with her husband, or even
scratching her body.

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.

"I know that you would ask me this one day, Comfort" she said. "I will
tell you everything. I had a happy marriage with my husband, together
with Paul our son and Endurance, our daughter. I like life, and we
would always go on picnic to interesting places like the parks and
beaches. The last holiday I had together with my husband and the
children was twenty years ago in Switzerland". Tears begin to swell in
her eyes, and I quickly cleaned it up since she had no means to do so,
while her husband looked away. I felt guilty in my heart for reminding
her of the past.

"Then one black winter morning in 1948-thirty six years after I was
born in Los Angles-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 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."

It was now the lot of her husband who has suffered financially and
emotionally, to narrate the ordeal of his wife. He seemed hesitant at
first. But a look by his wife was enough to prompt him to continue the
story.

"When Hope fainted, I didn't think that she would come back to life
again. 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-helping patients to recover-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.

"At first I was horrified at the thought" Hope now continues. "But what
would I do? I didn't want to die. And some poet said that what cannot
be cured, can be endured. So I decided to endure as far as God keeps me
alive. Look at my husband and children. I should be caring for them.
But what would I do now?" she asks rhetorically.

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. She explained that it was the rebellion of our first parents-Adam
and Eve-in the Garden of Eden that is responsible for the present
suffering in the world. She spoke of a time when God's Kingdom would
rule, and she would ask me to read the bible book of Revelation chapter
21 verse 4 .

She says that at that time, the paradise, which Adam and Eve lost,
would be regained. She would direct me to read what Jesus Christ told a
thief at Luke 23:43: "And he said to him: 'Truly I tell you today, you
will be with me in paradise` ". 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.

Her two children were always with us too. How sad they always look, not
being able to hug their mum. But she always told them to look toward
the bright future. Of them all, it was her little dog Mercy that added
a touch of drama to the whole thing. She would sit there all day long,
barking at and biting the machine, which held her owner prisoner thus
preventing them from playing together. At these times, I would always
have a hard time trying to quieten the dog and preventing her from
damaging the Iron lung.

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 in to see the vanities of life in this cemetry for all kinds of
people. On my left is the tomb of an American war veteran who fell in
battle in Vietnam. I move on and I see the tomb of an Indian ancestor
from the lineage of Crazy Horse. A little further lies a black slave
from the family tree of Olauduah Equiano, called the man with the loud
voice. And immediately after that is the burial place of a long time
state governor (Nobody remembers his name now).

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.
As I sit, I remember everything: the Iron lung, Hope's strong faith,
her husband Job ( he is very old now), her children Paul and Endurance
( they now have grand children), and Mercy the barking doggie ( it
barked herself to death one week after Hope's funeral). I remember the
bible says that we are like a mist that appears for a while and then
disappears. I remember Shakespeare said that life is like a stage and
we are mere players. My friend has played her part. We will all play
our part.

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-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".