The Children’s Memorial Marathon Team Kick-Off Party was yesterday. It was a chance to “meet your teammates, pick up your uniform and receive a tour of Children's Memorial Hospital!” I was excited to go and it was a beautiful evening. Some of the patients and their families were there. It was good to see them. It was inspiring to hear why some of the other runners are running on the Children’s Memorial Team. I was glad I went. I am also very thankful that I choose to run for the Children’s Memorial Marathon Team.
Most of you can probably already know why I chose to run and raise money for the Children’s Memorial but just in case you missed my spouse is a chaplain there. The work which her colleagues and she does inspire me, tugs at my heart, and often makes me cry. When I first met her I was unclear of what a chaplain actually does. I knew she was a minister and so I figured it was about religion. Me not really being into religion didn’t really ask a whole lot of questions about her job.
It wasn’t until a couple months into dating her that I really began understanding how important a chaplain is to patients and their families. My daughter and I were spending the weekend at her house in Chicago. We had met her at her work and were taking the bus back to her place. She told us that she just had to drop off this memory box to family in the morning and then she had the rest of the weekend to spend with us. Here I am sitting on the train holding my daughters hand staring at the memory box. It hit me hard what was in there. I started crying. She was bringing the last few things these parents would have of their child to them. It had a molded hand print and foot print, a piece of hair gently cut off and wrapped in ribbon, and whatever other items that had remand in the room that night. As I held my daughter closer to me I just couldn’t imagine.
Turns out that she also does the religion stuff prays with families, offers communion, and baptizes babies and children. She also does what important things like watches SpongeBob with a child who is scared and for whatever reason his/her caregiver can’t be there. She supports parents through emotional and draining times. She tells stories, sits quietly in the dark, listens, comforts, and helps children deal with the reality of being sick. She also supports the staff and is there to listen to their problems and the emotional toll it takes on them to take care of really sick children every day. I don’t know how she does her job but as a mother I know how important she must be to all of these children, staff, and family members because if my daughter was in the hospital and I couldn’t be there the person sitting watching SpongeBob and giving her ice chips would be my hero.
My wife supports me and encourages me in everything I do. I am so proud to be raising money that helps and supports her important work.
http://www.heroesforlife.org/site/TR/MarathonTeam/MarathonTeam?px=1490681&pg=personal&fr_id=1260
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