Byron is
10 years old. Only two years ago he
was sitting in the lines of children in wheel chairs we saw everyday at the
hospital we spent time at in Antigua.
He didn’t speak, he didn’t interact and he didn’t eat solids.
His story was headed the
way of so many children we saw…
their parents can’t take care of them… or won’t because of the extreme
stigma that sits on a family when they have a handicapped child. So they are taken into San Pedro
Hospital… which is a great
institution… they do the best
they can… but they are still an institution. The nurses do what they can… but the amount of love the children receive depends on how
many visitors are in that week… and when there are none? They sit in the morning, receive their
three meals a day, have their medical needs taken care of, and are in bed by
noon. It’s just too much for the
nurses to take on.
So there sat Byron. Until one day a kind hearted man
named Dick took one look in his eyes and saw the sparkle that so many
overlook. He sprung into
action.
Dick has been in Antigua
full time for 5 years and has used his love for the disabled to change the
lives of so many. He works
with a group who receive used wheel chairs, fix them up and then distribute
them throughout Guatemala. Dick
also is the resident father figure to the kids in his neighborhood. He also is a great friend to all
of the residents in the hospital and a fantastic advocate for what it takes to
not just take care of them… but to give them LIFE. You should see the commotion when the residents hear his
voice… the place is a flurry of
hand-clapping, bouncing up and down and shouts of joy. Who knows what will happen… he brings
them out to lunch, out to church, wrestles with them, and talks to them like
they are his friends.
With Byron Dick was convinced
that he could be in a power chair.
He tried several times to get him in a hand controlled chair but with
his tremors he couldn’t quite master it. Dick went to work rigging up a chair that Byron could
control with his head.
Off he went.
Within 6 months
Byron was transformed. The
ability to make a choice about where he went switched on his whole
personality. He talks and
laughs, causes trouble, eats solid food and loves going out anywhere with
Dick. He really became a 10 year
old boy. His best friend just
happens to be an amazing man 50+ years his superior.
As I have prayed about the future… life after the race… God keeps bringing me back to this
idea:
Life-giving health care
For a good part of this year I thought that I would show up
to some country and hear a mandate
handed down in a big booming movie-God voicetelling me where to go after the
race. No booming voice yet! I was sure that it would be something
really unique in the middle of nowhere on the other side of the world and that
it would be this huge sacrifice.
Instead, I just keep coming back to Occupational Therapy School… in St
Louis…. about as middle of America as you can get.
It’s been confirmed over and over. And usually the confirmations
come in on the days when my emotions are tugging me away from this path. The application I filled out last
year before the race is still visit, housing with extended family only 25 mins
from school, promises that I can
still spend time at the G42 “kitchen table” during breaks, the list goes on…
most recently amended with our time at the hospital. Meeting a team of Occupational Therapists there on a missions trip? Amazing. The way that Dick advocates for the people in the hospital
and pours himself into his neighborhood kids? Inspiring. The way that each of those
children instantly implanted themselves on my heart? Confirmation.
So that’s the path I’m on… it leads to St Louis for now. I know that someday it will lead
me back to my Byron. Byron is my
calling. I want to spend my life
letting children whose stories don’t suggest it be kids. I want to be in places where the basic
medical needs are taken care of and see their quality of life improve. I want to see people receive life. To become 10 year old boys… or 40
year old women… or 60 year old men. To see them dream. To see them fall in love with their Maker and their Savior.
