by Patricia F. Good Word
When the hospice movement finally spread from Europe to the United States, the office of the second location was in Austin, Texas. At the time I just happen to be working for a non- profit in Austin as a development officer. At lunch with a friend I learned that she had accepted an offer to be on their Board of Directors. I decided to become a volunteer.
After many months of training I became a volunteer for the Austin Hospice. During the time I volunteered I helped 7 patients along with their families. Recently I was reminded of one particular volunteer experience that I’ve always kept close to my heart.
This story started out in a very rough part of Austin. I remember the first day I went to see the patient, who for the purpose of telling this story I am re-naming “Mary”. There was gun fire in the projects where she lived and I wondered if I was even safe walking up to her third floor apartment.
Mary was a sweet woman. A small person in size, but had a big heart. She had terminal cancer with a six month prognosis. I remember she had beautiful long blond hair and I would brush it for her. Her hands were soft and delicate and I often rubbed lotion on them. She shared the apartment with her son and her husband. The son had just graduated from high school. He loved his mother dearly and was very attentive to her. I found out that her husband was not his biological father and that he was a mean and angry person. He sold flowers on the streets of downtown Austin and with the money he bought drugs and alcohol.
On the second visit to her apartment, I found her face and arms covered with bruises. Her husband had beat her after getting high on drugs. It happened so often that the hospital would call me when he had beaten her badly enough to be admitted. I would sit with her in the hospital room until she was well enough to be discharged.
One day I asked Mary if there was a way she could live somewhere else, safe from her husband. She explained that the only place she and her son would be safe would be with her daughter who lived in southern California. But, she didn’t have the money nor did she think she would be physically able to make the trip by bus, even if she had the money. Mary was also worried about her son. Between the beatings from her husband that he received, there was a prostitute who lived in her apartment building making plans for her son. She was worried that after she died, her son would be caught up in a world that would never give him a chance to get out of the projects. I told her that I would work on a solution for both of them.
I had a friend who was the manager of an airline. I went to see him the next day. I told him Mary’s story and asked if he would be willing to give me two one way tickets to southern California. He agreed immediately. So, I left his office and drove to her apartment to find that she was back in the hospital after her husband had beat her again. At the hospital I found Mary in worse condition than I had ever seen her before with two black eyes, bruises and wounds that were bleeding.
I told Mary I had a way to get both she and her son on a plane to southern California. She said she was too far gone to be able to make the trip, but asked if I would get her son out of Austin, and to please do it now! I immediately called my airline friend and asked if a seat to southern California would be available that night and he again made it happen!
I drove to her apartment and told her son to pack his bag. At first he said he wouldn’t leave his mother. I told him that I would not let her go back to that apartment and that I would keep her safe at my apartment until she was able to travel. Then, I would make sure I got her on a plane to California. He gave me his sister’s phone number and I called her to tell her what was happening and to ask her if she could take her brother and mother in if I could get them to southern California. She cried for a long time and said she had worried about her mother’s condition and that she would welcome them to her home. I told her that I was getting her brother on a plane that night and gave her his arrival information. Mary’s daughter was overjoyed. Then, she wanted to know how and when I would get her mother out of Austin. I told her I was working on Mary’s transportation and that I was not going to let her go back to that apartment where her husband would surely beat her to death.
Later that night I drove her son to the airport and walked him to the gate. Of course he was sad and worried. I reassured him that I would do whatever I had to do to protect his mother. He boarded the plane and I watched while the plane took off. I knew that he was safe and on his way to a new life away from the projects. Now, I had to get Mary out, too.
The next morning I arrived at the hospital while doctors were making their rounds. The doctor who was treating Mary was in the room with her when I arrived. I told him what the situation was with her husband and that I had a plane ticket for her to leave for southern California. He explained that she was not fit for travel. I argued that if Mary stayed in Austin she would be in grave danger if her husband found her. The doctor was insistent that he would not allow her to leave the hospital until he said she was ready to go and under no circumstances was she to travel to California.
After the doctor left the room, I turned to Mary and asked her if she wanted to go to California to live out her days with her daughter and son. She said she wanted to be with them more than anything. I told her then that is what we are going to do!
I called the airline manager to find out if there were any flights available that day. He said there was only one and it was leaving in an hour. I asked him to book Mary on that flight and that I would find a way to get her there.
At the nurses’ station I explained our plan and asked for a AMA (Against Medical Advice) Form. I also asked them to let me know when Mary’s doctor left the floor. I went down to the first floor to an area where I knew they kept extra wheelchairs. I borrowed one of them and took it back up to Mary’s room while the nurses cheered me on!
Mary had brought nothing with her to the hospital and we didn’t have time to go back to her apartment or she would miss her flight. Also, her husband might be waiting for her. I asked the nurses if they had any clothes we could dress her in for the flight. Several of them went to their lockers and brought out extra sweaters, sweat pants and tops that would work. One nurse even had an extra pair of shoes that she gave Mary. She was so weak that I had to hold her hand as she signed the AMA Form. Now dressed in the clothing donated by the hospital staff and sitting in the stolen wheelchair all we had to do was wait until that doctor left the floor. It was taking forever! The nurses were all keeping tabs on his movements. As soon as he entered the elevator they directed me to another elevator that went down to the garage where my car was parked. One nurse went with me to help Mary get into my car. All this was taking time, and time was running out! I called the airline friend and begged him to try to hold the plane until we could get there. Once again, he agreed to do it.
Finally in the car, Mary and I took off at high speed to make it to the airport before that plane to California took off. It was past the departure time and I prayed that there had been a flight delay or that the manager was able to hold that plane on the runway until we got there. As I drove up to the airport there was a wheelchair and several airline staff waiting for us. My manager friend had come to the rescue again! I jumped out of the car and one of them told me to put her into the wheelchair and run for the gate! They would stay with my car. So, off I went, running like a mad woman through the airport and down to the boarding area. As I made the corner to the gate I could see the plane had not left. The manager was standing at the door waving me through. My legs and lungs were screaming by that time but I wouldn’t stop and let anybody take over. I had to see that she got on that plane!
All this happened several years ago when the Austin airport still used passenger boarding stairs to reach the airplanes from the tarmac. We arrived at the base of the stairs of the aircraft and I hugged Mary goodbye as she thanked me over and over again. I asked the flight attendant to get somebody to lift her up the stairs because she was too weak to walk and they quickly pulled two more people off the plane to help.
I walked away so the airplane could take off. But I could see that Mary was not being assisted up the stairs and wondered what in the world had stopped them. One of them motioned for me to come back to the plane.
They told me Mary had one more thing to say to me before she left. I got on my knees, held her hands in mine, and said “What is it, Mary?” She answered, “I just wanted to ask you one more question before I leave.” I said, ” Alright, but you have to hurry because this plane needs to get going!” And then Mary said, “Will you promise me that we will meet again in heaven one day?” With tears running down both her face and mine I said, “I Promise.” We hugged for the last time. They carried Mary up the steps into the airplane and I watched it taxi to the end of the runway and take off.
Upon Mary’s arrival in southern California, her daughter called to tell me that she was at the airport to meet her mother. One month later Mary died peacefully in the arms of her daughter with her son next to her.
Mary’s son called several times to thank me for getting he and his mother out of danger. He went on to join the Navy and wrote me letters from all over the world. He later married and had a little girl who he named after his mother. I lost touch with him years ago but I’m pretty sure he continued to have a good life and a fine career in the Navy.
Helping Mary and her family seemed like the least I could do. You see I had lived through my own six month prognosis from cancer and consider myself spared by God’s grace. After all, isn’t that how He works in this world? He finds our feet, our hands, our minds and hearts to show His love in a world of so much pain, heartache and sorrow. I’m going to keep my promise and one day I’m going to meet Mary in heaven.
I later found out that Mary’s doctor was so mad that I had “stole” his patient from the hospital and put her on a plane to California against his orders that he demanded that the Austin Hospice fire me! They told him they couldn’t do that because I was just a volunteer!
I wonder if God had something to do with that as well? I’ll leave that for you to ponder.
I have my answer.