9 years ago I celebrated my 23rd birthday, then shortly after that (say about 2-3 weeks later), I was stricken with a rare and potentially deadly autoimmune disease called Guillian-Barre' Syndrome. It's said that this disease is so rare that 1 in 100,000 people get it. I beg to differ in the statistics. (SOURCE).
Here's what's strange about those stats to me....a friend of mine I grew up with had also suffered this same disease almost two years prior to myself. Now you tell me how rare is it that two people who knew each other were both affected by the same thing? Exactly. After that 2-3 week period of the onset of dealing with the disease, I went through the most excruciating pain and suffering no one ever in life would want to go through. As time progressed, it got to a point where I couldn't walk, barely talk, and almost became a struggle to breathe everyday. I WOULDN'T WISH THIS ON MY WORST ENEMY (IF I EVEN HAVE ONE). I spent my entire summer between 3 hospitals, taking pain medication everyday to get out of bed & bearing the thought of my then 3 year old son having to be home without his mother. I was so saddened that I spent his 4th birthday in a hospital bed. What somewhat did my heart some good was that he was able to come see and spend time with me. To this day, I call him my trooper, because to be a child that small and endure seeing their mother come so close to possibly dying is alot for a little one to endure.
Since that time, I started seeing life with different eyes. The things I took for granted became far more serious to me. I appreciated life that much more than I ever have. And growing up in a household where God is the central focus, made my faith in Him that much stronger. God pushed me to a limit where I had to put ALL trust in Him, because the thought alone that I could have died at 23 and leaving a child behind scared the pure hell out of me. I wasn't ready to die....I had a lot more living to do. There were nights where I cried my poor eyes out and talked to God asking Him to keep me here. And even during that time when I was hospitalized something else happened. The question of whether my father loved me as much as he did my other siblings had finally been answered. He would come and see me everyday faithfully after he got off work & still had to commute over 60 miles to get home in rush hour traffic. He would come and sit for hours in the hospital room with me & we would laugh, joke, talk about alot. He would even sneak me some food from the outside, because the hospital food was getting on my nerves. LOL. Inasmuch as my father isn't a person of showing weakness or emotion, I to an extent realized what I went through saddened him. One night a family friend came and visited with me and explained it all. That's when the light bulb went off and I finally understood. But this crazy experience brought my father and I closer together than what we had been.
For the past 9 years I've celebrated every birthday as if it could be my last, but better than the last one. Sure people may think "oh, it's just another birthday blah, blah, blah...." No, it's not! I believe every birthday should be special whether you spend it with a ton of friends and family or alone. Everyday isn't promised to any of us, especially the way folks are dying at rapid pace rates these days. It's like here today, gone tomorrow. Hell, sometimes gone today. And I know if I ever depart this life, I wanna go in peace, make sure my children are by my side and at peace, and I'm remembered my friends and loved ones to where my legacy and memory can live on in their lives after I'm gone. But as of now.....I'm celebrating my 32 years of life. And 32 is already becoming a special number for me.
Until Next Post,
Fingaz & Blessins,
Untouched Jewel
1 comment:
Incredible strong, bless you and your outlook...Big fan I am ...big-ups 2u
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