Anonymous Well Wishers
When I was a patient in Barnes Hosspital, I knew very little of the rally of well wishers that ewas happening outside of my hospital room. In the local paper, there were several ads posted for card showers and letters to be sent to my hospital room. One of the most memorable letters I received was from a woman I’d never met. She and her husband were retired and had a small farm outside of the town where I grew up. They used it as their weekend retreat and, just to fit in with the year-round locals, they subscribed to the local paper. While flipping through the cattle sales and what cheap beer was on sale at the local C Store, she found the ad for the card shower for yours truly. There were no details on who this anonymous Marcus guy was, so she simply told me a bit about herself, her husband and how she came to be reading the Montgomery Standard. I do remember that she believed I was young, but she had no real way of knowing why she felt this way. Well, her thoughts were right on.
Friends, either this woman was totally bored and needed a life, or there was something inside her calling her to write. Again, I didn’t know her, she didn’t know anything about me, and her anonymous well wishes were one of the driving forces that kept me going.Let us not forget that this was in the years before anyone had heard of aol, MySpace or even E mail. Today, I’d like to return that woman’s kindness and ask you to do me(well, Mark,) a favor…a 21st century favor.
Also while hospitalized, as many of you have read, I was tended to by Barb DeWalle, R.N. Even as I write this, I have a lump in my throat for the extra effort, love and care Barb gave to that extremely messed up 18 year old kid who looked a lot like me. Now, Barb has had the tables turned on her family. Her son, Mark, is undergoing yet another round of chemo. This will start on Monday. Before then, the DeWalle friends and fam are asking for messages to be posted to his web site, wishing him well. Anonymous people did it for me, and I’m asking you to do it for Mark. Please take a couple of moments to do this, K? You never know the impact messages have on a patient until you’ve laid in that hospital bed. Here’s the address…and thanks. From me, from Barb and Debe, and from patients everywhere(yeah, I speak for all of them, what of it?)
http://markdewalle.moonfruit.com/
Yes, this is the correct URL. Pretty sure the site was designed by some Englishman with a different system of accessing the net than we Yanks. Oh, and if there’s no message on there from Marcus? It’s because I can’t figure it out. Apparently, I’m net retarded or something…but pass along the message I sent here, K?
