- Nov 8, 2015
- 214
- 157
- 31
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Eastern Orthodox
- Marital Status
- Single
- Politics
- US-Libertarian
When I was a little girl, I struggled with health problems that threatened my life and for 5 years we really didn't know if I would ever grow up. Thanks be to God I made it through that dark time, but in the midst of that my family joined a support group for the families of children like me. One family we became close friends with had a little boy two and a half years younger than me named Matthew.
Like me, Matthew had congenital heart defects and spent much of his earliest years in and out of hospital. That group connected not just the parents but by extension the children. Matthew and I grew closer and closer until we were practically siblings. We faced the same struggles, fought the same battles, we understood and were there for each other on a level even our parents couldn't. He was like my little brother and I loved him so deeply... He never let anything we went through get to him, he never stopped smiling, he never took anything out on anyone else, and he would never, ever pray for his own needs but would pray for others until he fell asleep. His favorite things were baseball, which he played whenever he was healthy enough, and cartoons.
In mid-August 2003 we got a call from his mother, saying that he was sick and in the hospital yet again... I knew it was bad when my mom drove down to Chicago to sit with his mom, this wasn't the first call like this we'd gotten but she'd never gone to them before. Later that night my Dad and I got a call from Mom, the worst call I've ever gotten. Matthew was dying... he wasn't going to live through the night and he'd never come off of life support. My world as I knew it shattered into tiny pieces, my buddy, my lifeline, my brother in arms, was gone... that night I stayed up and prayed, Begging God for a miracle, even offering to take his place... I sat there on my bed, praying and crying until at some point I must have passed out, that was the first time I had ever reached out to God and prayed on my own.
When I woke up the next morning, they were taking him off of life support... Matthew died August 19th 2003 at the age of 7 years old. I was 9 and 1/2... we would never grow up together, he'd never have his first communion, or be confirmed, or go to high school or college... and I would never see him or hear his voice again in this life.
"and with your final heartbeat, kiss this world goodbye. Then go in peace and laugh on Glory's side..." - Come to Jesus by Jericho Road
"What though the radiance which was once so bright, be now forever taken from my sight, though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of Glory in the flower, we will grieve not but rather, find strength in what remains behind." - William Wordsworth
"Lest ye be as little children ye shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." - Matthew 18:3
Like me, Matthew had congenital heart defects and spent much of his earliest years in and out of hospital. That group connected not just the parents but by extension the children. Matthew and I grew closer and closer until we were practically siblings. We faced the same struggles, fought the same battles, we understood and were there for each other on a level even our parents couldn't. He was like my little brother and I loved him so deeply... He never let anything we went through get to him, he never stopped smiling, he never took anything out on anyone else, and he would never, ever pray for his own needs but would pray for others until he fell asleep. His favorite things were baseball, which he played whenever he was healthy enough, and cartoons.
In mid-August 2003 we got a call from his mother, saying that he was sick and in the hospital yet again... I knew it was bad when my mom drove down to Chicago to sit with his mom, this wasn't the first call like this we'd gotten but she'd never gone to them before. Later that night my Dad and I got a call from Mom, the worst call I've ever gotten. Matthew was dying... he wasn't going to live through the night and he'd never come off of life support. My world as I knew it shattered into tiny pieces, my buddy, my lifeline, my brother in arms, was gone... that night I stayed up and prayed, Begging God for a miracle, even offering to take his place... I sat there on my bed, praying and crying until at some point I must have passed out, that was the first time I had ever reached out to God and prayed on my own.
When I woke up the next morning, they were taking him off of life support... Matthew died August 19th 2003 at the age of 7 years old. I was 9 and 1/2... we would never grow up together, he'd never have his first communion, or be confirmed, or go to high school or college... and I would never see him or hear his voice again in this life.
"and with your final heartbeat, kiss this world goodbye. Then go in peace and laugh on Glory's side..." - Come to Jesus by Jericho Road
"What though the radiance which was once so bright, be now forever taken from my sight, though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of Glory in the flower, we will grieve not but rather, find strength in what remains behind." - William Wordsworth
"Lest ye be as little children ye shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." - Matthew 18:3