Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: The Reader (04/15/10)
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TITLE: Armchair Transformation | Previous Challenge Entry
By Emily Gibson
04/18/10 -
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Something about the little girl’s picture at the start of the story captured me right away–she had such friendly eyes with a sunny smile that partially hid buck teeth. This Canadian child, Janis Babson, diagnosed with leukemia when she was only ten, in spite of all efforts to stop the illness, died in 1961. The story was written about her determination to donate her eyes after her death, and her astounding courage facing the inevitable. Being nearly the same age, I was captivated and petrified at the story, amazed at Janis’ straight forward approach to her death, her family’s incredible support of her wishes, and especially her final moments, when (as I recall 47 years later) she sat upright in her hospital bed and exclaimed “Mama, Papa, I see the angels coming!†And then she was gone. I cried buckets of tears, reading and rereading that death scene. My mom finally had to take the magazine away from me and shooed me outside to go run off my grief.
How could I run and play when Janis no longer could? It was a devastating realization that a child my age could get sick and die, and that God allowed it to happen.
Yet this story was more than just a tear jerker for the readers. Janis’ final wish was granted –those eyes that had seen the angels were donated after her death so that they would help another person see. Janis had hoped never to be forgotten. Amazingly, she influenced thousands of people who read her story to consider and commit to organ donation, most of whom remember her vividly through that book excerpt in Readers’ Digest. I know I could not sleep the night after I read her story and determined to do something significant with my life, no matter how long or short it was. Her story influenced my eventual decision to become a health care provider. She made me think about death at a very young age as that little girl’s tragic story could have been mine and I was certain I could never have been so brave and so confident in my dying moments.
Out of the recesses of my memory, I recalled Janis’ story a few months ago when I learned of a local child who had been diagnosed with a serious cancer. I could not recall Janis’ name, but in googling “Readers’ Digest girl cancer storyâ€, through the miracle of the internet I rediscovered her name, the name of the book and a discussion forum that included posts of people my age who had been incredibly inspired by Janis when they read this same story as a child. A number went on to be trained as professionals working with organ donation.
The written word can transform the life of the reader. In this case, there is no question: that summer afternoon spent reading a remarkable story in an arm chair changed me forever.
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