A Binghamton Blue Christmas

My heart and prayers go out to several people I know, or know through other people, this holiday season.

There is the beautician I blogged about several months ago, whose teenage son was partially paralyzed in a car accident earlier this year, not long after he got his drivers license.  I had my hair done earlier this month, and this young man was in the back yelling out demands.  When his mother (who was cutting my hair at the time) didn't immediately respond, the "f" bomb and other comments followed (directed at me as the customer).  It is obvious that my beautician is subject to the brunt of anger and other feelings from this young man.  I do not work in this field, so I do not have any bright ideas, but it took all of my willpower to not march back there and give him a piece of my mind.  The only reason why I didn't is because I don't know what it would have done for her except make things worse, probably.

I am not a stranger to the world of disabilities (my father suffered a tramatic brain injury before I was born) and I do want to help, but not in a misguided way.

Next, there is the woman who works at my company.  Her brother has cancer, and she offered to be a donor for the bone marrow transplant he needs.  At first (I don't know which) he refused but either he relented or she went ahead and got tested for suitability anyway.  And what did she find but....she has the same cancer.

She had been feeling very tired, had colds she couldn't shake, but had marked it down to getting old. (She's in her early 60's). 

My walking companion went to high school with her.  When I found this out yesterday, my companion was off, but when we all return to work Monday, I will have to find out if she knows more. 

I know this sounds like something from a bad novel, but you can't make this stuff up.

Finally, another person at work...the assistant pastor at his church, who has done much to build the congregation and does many youth activities, had a major stomach ache soon after Thanksgiving.  It was bad the first day, really bad the second, and he went to the doctor.  Later that week he is being operated on for stomach cancer.  From my family history of pancreatic cancer (and I also lost an aunt to stomach cancer) I know what the prognosis is.

These three people all need our prayers.  When I wrote the article on "Blue Christmas" in my company newsletter, I never dreamed of how soon it would be put into practice in real life.