I found another one of my old editorials. This one brings up sad memories.
A Lesson in Courage
I sat in the dentist’s chair, waiting to have a filling replaced. I don’t mind visiting the dentist so much, but I hate when the procedure requires a Novocain injection. The prick of the needle and that crunching sound it makes as it is pushed through my flesh just about takes me out of the chair.
As I sat there, helpless, watching the dentist prepare the needle I thought of our brave little grandson Brody, and what he was about to go through.
A few weeks before, Brody’s mother Erin noticed that his right eye looked tired. Within days he lost muscle control in the right side of his face. He still laughed and played with his older brother Gage and twin brother Connor with gusto, but he had a crooked smile, and his eye wouldn’t close by itself. He had trouble running in a straight line.
The doctors diagnosed his problem as “embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma,” a type of childhood brain cancer that is as mean and nasty as it sounds. The doctors said that with weeks of radiation therapy followed by a year of chemotherapy they might save his life. Brody’s future looked grim, filled with months and months of painful tests, hospitals, needles, doctors, and nurses. The adults around him were terrified, but to Brody the symptoms were a mere inconvenience. He was happy, full of life, and without fear.
The Saturday before the treatments were to begin, we took the family to an antique tractor show where our magazine had set up a display.
Antique Power’s booth was just inside a massive building where we had a great view of the perfectly restored John Deere tractors on display.
It occurred to me that the boys might enjoy a ride around the show grounds on one of tractors if only I could find someone who would let three rambunctious boys get near its perfect paint job. I caught up with Tom Crawford and asked him if there was a way we could make it happen.
Tom smiled. He was more than happy to oblige.
When the boys walked into the building their eyes grew as big as saucers at the sight of all those shiny tractors. I asked if they would like to take a ride on one, and three little heads bobbed up and down enthusiastically. You could see the curiosity in their eyes as they scanned the rows of tractors. Which one would they ride on?
Their eyes got bigger and bigger as Tom led them to the biggest, meanest looking tractor in the building - his John Deere model 80 diesel! They clapped their hands over their ears when the John Deere’s pony motor started its high-pitched roar, and the boys edged a way a bit when Tom closed the compression release and the big diesel started hammering. They were going to ride on
this?
Brody was wearing his best crooked smile as the they drove out of the building for their tour of the show grounds. There wasn’t a dry eye in the group as we saw how happy he was, bravely riding that big noisy tractor. Brody was having a great time, and we all knew he might not have another good day for a long, long time.
They were gone for quite some time before they returned to the building. Tom had let each one of them sit in the seat and drive, so they returned as veteran tractor men.
I had not seen the boys so happy and excited for many weeks. They all wanted to do it again soon and thanked Tom for his kindness without the usual prodding from their mom.
Tom was extraordinarily gracious and as patient with the boys as a grandfather. He had not known how important it was to give a few minutes of happiness to a brave little boy who was about to embark on a very bad year.
I saw the dentist coming at me with his needle. I thought of the courage of a little boy facing that noisy monster tractor, facing a year of doctors, needles, and worse, and I thought to myself, “I can do this.”
Please pray for Brody and Tom.
Heck, you may as well say a prayer for my dentist too, if you’re so inclined.
As it turned out, our grandson Brody never did have another good day. He passed away from brain cancer in 2013, a few weeks after his 8th birthday. This picture accompanied the story in the magazine.
