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A Story of Courage in the Face of Adversity
By karen | September 27, 2007
About a week ago, while at a “superstore’’ I saw a group of young boys. They were young teenagers, perhaps 13 maybe 14. I smiled as I watched them as they were laughing, having fun and enjoying themselves. As I looked over at them a flicker of recognition came to me. One of the boys was familiar.
I don’t know this boy. I don’t know the whole story. I saw and I remember the media version. The real and complete story will probably never be told.
But what I saw on that day looked like a happy and joyful ending or perhaps even a happy and joyful beginning, after all his whole life is ahead of him and he looked ready to live it to the fullest. My heart filled with happy thoughts as I watched him. He looked to me to be very happy, very healthy, very alive and very full of joy.
The reason why I recognized this boy was because a few years back he and his parents were at the center of attention in all of the local news media. I saw his face on the TV. I saw his face in the newspaper. He was the lead story on the news. It was not a happy story but it was a story of courage and conviction.
The media reported that this boy had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer of the soft tissues. I don’t recall, nor do I care to recall the exact name of it. That is not part of the story. No, that is not the story that I will tell!
The reason why he was on the news was because his parents were refusing the conventional yet invasive treatments like radiation and chemotherapy. The state disagreed with their ideas and their chosen course of treatment and the state was trying to force them to comply. There were battles. There were attorneys. That was the story, over and over again. The parents would win a round, the state would again try to force their hand.
I can remember at the time thinking about how I admired those parents for sticking to their convictions and yet a part of me felt a fear of “what if they are wrong and the doctors are right? What if they don’t have the treatment and the boy dies? How could they live with themselves?” Yet I could see how courageous they were being in the face of such horrific pressures. As I watched I could see and I could feel their unshakable convictions and their deep belief that their child was fine, healthy, strong and able to overcome whatever challenges he faced.
I had to admire them. At the time, I was not sure that I would have been as strong and courageous as they were in the face of such adversity.
Their story was part of the news for perhaps a year or longer. At one point the family even moved away to a neighboring state. As I recall none of the doctors seen on the media would agree with the parents, all of the doctors sided with the state in saying that the boy had this disease and needed this specific treatment. If the parents had any doctors on their side, the media was not telling the public so that I don’t know.
At the end though, the parents ended up winning their case. The boy did not receive the conventional treatments the state was trying to enforce. Had the state been correct and had he truly been as sick as they said, with the only way for him to get well being the invasive treatments, he would have died by now. In this case, the state and the so-called “experts” were wrong.
His parents with the Love in their Heart and the Intuitions of their Souls were right. They knew.
A year or so later, I saw an update on the news. This time it was reported that he was healthy, strong and cancer-free. It’s funny how the media can change sides on a subject.
So you see why it made me happy to see this teenager, this tall, handsome, healthy, strapping boy. It has been 5 years or more. It was a joy to see him laughing and playing and even causing mischief with his friends at the local Walmart, more Power to him I say!
And that is the wonderful continuation of the story. Much better than the story from before.
My friend Lorraine Cohen at Powerfull Living challenged me to write about what gives me Courage. I wrote back and asked if I could write about someone else’s courage. The inspiration to express what gives me my own courage eluded me. Had that inspiration expressed itself you would have read about me.
Like everyone I have had my share of adversities. Very few of those adversity stories make it to a post on Live the Power. I only want the stories that bring hope and inspiration to end up here. I did write two posts about my own demons in the past year but I ended up deleting them. That is my privilege as the head writer and the only writer of Live the Power.
I want this place to be an Inspiration to the good things in life, mine and others.
So this story is my entry to the “Courage” meme. I find the story to be inspiring. I hope you do to.
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Topics: Living the Power, Motivation and Inspiration, Real Life |
September 27th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Great story Karen. I am sure there are many people out there defying medical thought and finding other way to deal with blocked wellness - it’s just whether or not we hear about it.
I recently saw an interview on TV with the Topp Twins (popular performing sisters here in NZ - http://www.topptwins.co.nz ). Jools had just recovered from breast cancer. Over the course of the interview, which wasn’t just about the cancer, she told how she used many forms of treatment for the cancer. She did undergo chemotherapy, but refused radiation and one other treatment despite the pressure from the doctors.
No big deal was made about her choices in this interview and it was great to see someone taking full responsibility for their health.
Much joy,
KL
September 27th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Thanks for this story, Karen..I love it when people/parents listen to their intuition and follow their inner guidance. So happy their son is doing well. Love does wonderful things, indeed!
September 28th, 2007 at 7:56 am
Beautiful story Karen,
It’s just perfect. Thank you for writing and posting it to play with my challenge. Stories of courage and inspiration as so powerfull and motivating especially those that recognize the courage of people who remain true to who they are.
Please tag 5 others to play
Warmly,
Lorraine
September 28th, 2007 at 9:10 am
Thanks KL
I really believe that healing has much more to do with our own connections to Source and energies than anything that a doctor says. And the best doctors are the ones that have Intuitions and are connected themselves rather than just following the “tests” etc.
September 28th, 2007 at 9:11 am
Pamm,
I agree. Stories like this inspire me. I know that I have never been lead in a wrong direction when I followed my own intuitions yet every time I ever overrode them it was a mistake.
September 28th, 2007 at 9:13 am
Thanks Lorraine,
I know that it was not exactly what you asked for but inspiring just the same.
With all of the memes going around it I am finding a resistance in myself to tagging others. I’ll have to think about who I can tag here.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
I agree. The world news is so full of misery and pain. Let’s have at least one source of hope and happiness.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Thanks Anja
Yes, I love “good news” stories!
September 28th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Great story. I received chemotherapy for lymphoma years ago, and doctors actively discouraged me from using any complementary therapies - even vitamins. I stuck to my guns and made a complete recovery far quicker than they’d expected. I think they were kind of annoyed …
September 28th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
My grandmother went through radition for breast cancer they ended up burning her skin because they were incompetent. She’s still paying the bill I try to help her the best I can with her bills with extra money i give her a month. Its hard!
September 28th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Emma,
That is wonderful as I see pictures of you I see a healthy, vibrant and of course, “fit” person.
Very cool!!
September 28th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Amanda,
that is a sad thing! Sending your Grandmother loving energy! Enjoy her company while you can as all of my grandparents have now passed on…
September 30th, 2007 at 7:36 am
Hi Karen,
I loved the story. Why don’t you write it as an article and offer it to the local media?
You could write it in the most positive way and you could inspire all those who read the beginning of the story.
Maybe you could contact the family and have them giving you more details of it.
I’m sure the experience for you would be of growth and you would be giving a lot of people the possibility to read this.
Patricia
September 30th, 2007 at 8:18 am
Karen,
That’s a wonderful story! It goes to show that you have to be true to yourself and your convictions.
Did the parents ever disclose what they did do to help cure the boy? I’m only slightly familiar with the story.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Z–
As it was happening the media portrayed it with a bias toward the state.
I don’t recall ever hearing much about the parents course of action.
As I said I don’t know the whole story but I do know that I saw the boy and he looked happy, healthy and very much alive and enjoying life.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Patricia,
Wow, that is an idea…..
I wonder?
Would they want someone to write their story?
Do they want to share their story?
I could write it……
(oh,oh I feel my inner introvert weighing in…)
September 30th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
I don’t really know the answer to your wonderings but I guess there’s nothing to lose if you ask.
Please tell me if you do, I’m curious about the outcome!
:)
September 30th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
I’ll keep you posted.
I recall their last name but not the first names
so I don’t know if it would be easy to find them.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Thanks for sharing this! I’d really like to hear more about your stories though. I understand how you would only like to write positive stories here. But the more positive stories I believe are those that have come from adversities where even the things we consider to be negative have been transmuted into something good in the end
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Joice,
You are right…some of those stories are the best and the most inspiring…..