2 minute read
SPIRIT COURAGE IS EVERYWHERE … EVEN WITHIN YOU
Everyone knows courage when they see it, or thinks they do. Most examples of courage, however, are easily missed. They are all around us and come in all shapes and sizes, if we only have eyes to see.
Physicians are confronted on an almost-daily basis with patients who demonstrate a very high level of courage. One of the bravest I have known came to me as a young lady with cystic fibrosis and I have known her for 20 years. The threat of death has been a constant in her daily life, never more so than when she underwent a double lung transplant and the subsequent episodes of rejection all transplant patients undergo. Now in her 40s, having lived well beyond any reasonable expectation, she has so much joy and enthusiasm for life that it makes us regular, healthy folks look positively unappreciative and depressed by comparison.
Not all examples of courage are so dramatic.
I remember an older patient crippled with multiple sclerosis who was bedridden and incapable of any useful movement of her arms or legs. Her husband cared for her without assistance and, against daunting odds, protected her from bedsores until, at last, she developed a small one over her tailbone. Even a small bedsore can take months to heal. Every time she came to the office, I would offer to help get her onto the exam table. Her husband would decline my offer and, very gently and carefully, pick her up out of the wheelchair to place her on the table with a smooth, practiced movement that bespoke years of practice. He picked her up as if she were a doll, demonstrating surprising strength in his wiry body.
This was courage of unconditional, sacrificial love such as I have rarely seen. Some patients humble you.
In November 2013, I completed the Florida Ironman triathlon, an accomplishment of which I am very proud. Looking around at the crowd of participants, the standouts were the handicapped athletes taking on the same challenge.
There was a blind girl who completed each discipline with a sighted guide; a paraplegic whose friends carried him to the water’s edge; a number of amputees, with prosthetic arms and carbon fiber legs.
To see individuals who overcame such obstacles participate in this event put things in perspective: How many able-bodied people ever challenge themselves that way?
People make courageous decisions every day, sometimes many in one day. There are those people who step out on faith and take a chance to make a dream come true.
Especially courageous is the single mother who works her way through school to make a better life for herself and her children; the couple who work through a bumpy point in their marriage rather than just throw in the towel and walk away; the middle-aged child who cares for an aging parent, rather than shove him or her into a nursing home. The examples go on.
Everyone loves inspirational stories. We all need them. We need to know that others, many worse off than us, have overcome the obstacles in their lives to emerge triumphant. It gives us reason to say to ourselves, “I can do this, too.” Healthy Living is great for inspirational stories. Many are in this courage-themed issue.
Why is it some people overcome and others never do? It boils down to courage versus fear. Overcomers find a way to move beyond their fears — fear of failure, fear of criticism, fear of the unknown — and forge themselves a better future.
Where does this courage come from and how do we draw on the stores of courage all of us possess?
Ah, that is the question and it will be up to you to supply the answer.
I and many others look forward to hearing your story.
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