Thursday, July 28, 2011

Hero

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." -Christopher Reeve

Last week I attended an Institute Forum where the speaker was Kathy Aiken, the news reporter for KSL 5.  She spoke on heroes and what the qualities of a hero is.  I wish I had pulled my notebook out and written down some of the quotes that she read during her speech, they were truly profound.  Unfortunately, I did not.  The quote above is one that I found while looking up quotes.  She challenged us to think of our heroes, who they are, and why they are our heroes.  I have a number of heroes, your out of the ordinary heroes.  I don't look up to the actors or actresses that are popular, nor do I consider my favorite musicians to be my hero.  My heroes are everyday, ordinary people, whom I sure would say they don't deserve to be "labeled" a hero. 

There is one in particular that brings me to write this blog post.  This is a person I do not know personally, but that does not matter.  He is a hero, in my eyes.

I can't tell his story myself, so you just need to hop on over to his families blog.  I promise you, you will not regret it.  This young boy, has more courage, more hope, more faith, than most people I know.  
Now, I may be drawn to him a little bit more than any of you might be.  But I have a reason for that.  My Aunt Polly donates Build-A-Bears to Primary Children's hospital every now and again, because she has seen first hand what it means to a child, suffering from cancer, to receive a bear that they can call their own.  I began going -first with friends, then with my family- to Build-A-Bear to make a bear or two for my aunt to donate. 

Back in May my Aunt made a delivery of bears, in honor of Kristen's birthday.  So I went with my mom, and a different aunt to make some bears.  
I spent a little more money than I planned, but I saw this bear, and this little outfit, and knew that if I loved it that much, some young boy would love it even more.

cute, right!
A few weeks, maybe days, I don't really know, after my aunt had delivered the bears to Primary's, I noticed that someone had commented on her blog of how grateful they were for what my aunt was doing as their son had received one of the bears.
(Any guesses as to where this is going?...)
I linked over to this women's blog, and started reading her sons story.  It brought me to tears instantly.  The bravery that he carries with him as he is fighting cancer is astounding, the fact that he was so cheerful, so soon after a major surgery, even more astounding. 
Eventually I read this blog post.  I saw in his arms, a very familiar looking sight.


I was intrigued. I kept reading, and saw this post.


I knew I recognized the bear he was holding as the one that I had donated.  It really brought all of it full circle.  To see exactly what kind of comfort I was able to help bring to someone right out of surgery brought about a feeling that I cannot describe in words.  I know you don't have to see the end result of a good deed to know that you did something to help someone else.  But struck a bone in me and I realized that I did do something for someone else, and that I can continue to do things. 
Now.. why am I writing this now? It's been over 2 months since I read these blog posts.  Well, I continue to read the families blog, just to see how he is doing.  I pulled up the blog this morning and saw this post. Those same indescribable feelings hit me again, and I sat on my bed and cried. 


This young boy has been through so much in the past few months, but he is still smiling.  He is still carrying on his life as though he isn't sick.  If it were me, I wouldn't be doing that.  I would get to a point where I would just want to throw in the towel and say I'm done.  I would be a grouch and just sit and feel sorry for myself.  If you read, even just a portion of his story you will see why he is a hero in my eyes. All I can think is, amazing.



2 comments:

  1. When you told me he was carrying the bear the other day in the pictures I was so happy and I saw the light in your eyes of how proud you were to make that bear and to make someone elses day better. you are so good at that. I love you sis

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  2. Thank you for your beautiful post! You don't know how much comfort that bear has brought my son. He loves flying and will get to do some flying when his wish is granted through Make a Wish!

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