Recently
I read a book entitled What
Was Good about Today?
By Carol Kruckeberg (Madrona
Publishers, 1989). It
is a true story of Sara Kruckeberg, an eight-year-old child with
acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML).
The
book was written by Sara’s mother with a three-fold purpose: to
tell how a family deals with the crisis of a terminal illness; to
give hope and encouragement for living one day at a time; and to show
that something good emerges from each day if one has the optimism to
seek it.
The
verdict of possible leukemia comes after Sara is examined in the
Sequim, Washington emergency room following flu-like symptoms that
have not responded to medication. Dr. Wendy Mouradian tells Walt and
Carol Kruckeberg, “There is something very wrong with Sara’s
blood.”
She
is hospitalized in Sequim overnight, IVs pumping antibiotics. The
next day Sara is transferred to children’s Orthopedic Hospital
(COH) in Seattle where Dr. Dan Baker and others confirm the Sequim
doctor’s diagnosis: Leukemia (AML).
What
do parents do when faced with knowledge that their child has only a
short while to live without treatment, and may not have much time,
even with treatment?
They
have initial shock, horror, disbelief, anger, terror, desperation.
Then they decide to act, to move on the long shot that treatment may
result in remission and, even a miracle of miracles, a cure. They
pray. They watch while medications drip and the body of their child
undergoes radical changes. They hide their true feelings and wear a
façade of faith and courage.
Eight-year-old
Sara is the real trooper. It is she who decides, even in the throes
of nausea from chemotherapy, that she and her mother will evaluate
each day and find something good about it.
Thus
began the journey of coping, of discovering laughter and pleasure in
ludicrous situations, of seeking meaning in seemingly small events,
of playing the ‘what’s good” game.
Sara,
artistically gifted and unusually perceptive for her age, drew
cartoons and posters to amuse the other patients and the doctors and
nurses at COH. She wrote stories, poems and one-liners. Her sense of
humor and determination were phenomenal.
Mail-time
was a highlight of each day in the hospital as Sara’s schoolmates
and friends kept the cards coming in a steady stream.
Carol
Kruckeberg and Sara spent most of the next year in B-3 at COH in
Seattle, returning home to Sequim when Sara had brief remissions or
was granted a weekend pass.
Walt,
the father, a high school teacher, continued with his job and cared
for five-year old Andy. Walt and Carol’s parents, who lived in
Sequim, went often to Seattle. Friends and church members provided
inestimable support.
The
end came for Sara soon after she received a near-match bone marrow
transplant from her father. She suffered “guest-versus host”
(GVH) rejection.
After
Sara’s death, Carol signed up for writing classes. She had a
compulsion to share Sara’s story for her own catharsis and healing
and to help others in similar circumstances. She wanted to show
what’s good about today.
She
and Walt adopted a little girl, not to take Sara’s place, but
because the bi-racial child, Molly Rose, needed a home and could be
taught the good things about each day.
Carol
tells the story without rancor, straight forward and with precision.
She has a unique writing style. Her conclusion is provocative:
“Today
I sit and think of Sara. Still lonely. Still sad. Still wishing
her into my life again. And I work to do what she did so well: To
choose where there is choice: Laughter. Love. To keep the game
going. To trust.”
The
book stimulates one to look less at problems and more at
possibilities. Every obstacle is either a stumbling block or a
challenge. Our response determines what’s good about today.
(Published
in The
News Observer,
Blue Ridge, GA. April 5, 1990. ©1990 by Ethelene Dyer Jones. All
rights reserved.)
No comments:
Post a Comment