My son is 12 months old and is named Dane. Its not a very common name and I've only heard it a time or two.
One day while in the hospital getting radiation, my son was playing with the toys outside the room that would radiate my cancer and hopefully buy me enough years to see this little guy walk down the aisle.
Dane is not a very social beast especially with people he doesn't know yet.
An old frail man walked into the room and sat down obviously waiting for his turn with 'sparky'. He looked very worn out and I sensed that he didn't have many days left on this earth.
As soon as he sat down, he sparked the attention of my son and Dane dropped the toys he was playing with and crawled immediately over to the old man and stood up against his knees in the chair. He was lifting his arms almost begging to be picked up by the old guy.
I moved from my chair in amazement to sit beside Dane's new friend and told him how 'out of character' it was for Dane to go to anyone like that.
The man's eyes immediately filled with tears and he asked, "Your son's name is Dane?"
"Yes", I said. "I love the name and it suits him to a T."
"My name is also Dane", he said.
He proceeded to tell me that he was in the end stages of stomach cancer and was trying to buy enough time to see Christmas as his daughter was having a son around Christmas who was also going to be named Dane.
My eyes filled with tears as I watched this old man's name-sake crawl up into his arms and wrap his arms around his neck and stare almost knowingly into his teary eyes. He even gave the old man a big kiss on his teary cheeks.
I wished him a merry Christmas and gently took my son from his arms and we walked towards the elevator thankful for having survived another day of radiation.
As we walked down the hospital corridor, my son was straining his neck to watch the old man and waving 'bye bye' to him for the entire length of the hallway.
As the elevator door gently closed and Dane was still trying to wave bye to the man he'd never met, I wiped a tear from my eye and wondered what the chances were of this little event happening again.
I hope that the old, frail man made it to Christmas and I hope he got to live long enough to see his grand-son when he was born.
The will to live is incredibly strong in all of us. All we need is the motivation to do so.
One day while in the hospital getting radiation, my son was playing with the toys outside the room that would radiate my cancer and hopefully buy me enough years to see this little guy walk down the aisle.
Dane is not a very social beast especially with people he doesn't know yet.
An old frail man walked into the room and sat down obviously waiting for his turn with 'sparky'. He looked very worn out and I sensed that he didn't have many days left on this earth.
As soon as he sat down, he sparked the attention of my son and Dane dropped the toys he was playing with and crawled immediately over to the old man and stood up against his knees in the chair. He was lifting his arms almost begging to be picked up by the old guy.
I moved from my chair in amazement to sit beside Dane's new friend and told him how 'out of character' it was for Dane to go to anyone like that.
The man's eyes immediately filled with tears and he asked, "Your son's name is Dane?"
"Yes", I said. "I love the name and it suits him to a T."
"My name is also Dane", he said.
He proceeded to tell me that he was in the end stages of stomach cancer and was trying to buy enough time to see Christmas as his daughter was having a son around Christmas who was also going to be named Dane.
My eyes filled with tears as I watched this old man's name-sake crawl up into his arms and wrap his arms around his neck and stare almost knowingly into his teary eyes. He even gave the old man a big kiss on his teary cheeks.
I wished him a merry Christmas and gently took my son from his arms and we walked towards the elevator thankful for having survived another day of radiation.
As we walked down the hospital corridor, my son was straining his neck to watch the old man and waving 'bye bye' to him for the entire length of the hallway.
As the elevator door gently closed and Dane was still trying to wave bye to the man he'd never met, I wiped a tear from my eye and wondered what the chances were of this little event happening again.
I hope that the old, frail man made it to Christmas and I hope he got to live long enough to see his grand-son when he was born.
The will to live is incredibly strong in all of us. All we need is the motivation to do so.
1 comment:
I remember this story way back when you experienced it and posted it on FF. I cried then, and I cry again today. That is the most touching story! I sure hope that old man got to see his grandbaby.
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