What can you do with Hope?

I have been reading Michael J. Fox's book on his struggle with Parkinson Disease (PD), "Always Looking Up." While I never cared much for him as an actor, he has impressed me as a person and I enjoy the way he writes. The book talks about his personal struggle with PD, how he started a foundation to push PD research and the politics of this action. There is a section in the book where he is campaigning for legislation to encourage more research in the US. One of his critics challenges him saying he is being cruel by putting false hope into peoples minds. His response to the criticism is, "Which is crueler, to not have hope or to have hope? And it is not a false hope, it is an informed hope." This statement caught me because from the first day we learned what I had, this rare horrific disease called Cardiac Amyloidosis, that would kill me in two years or less if nothing was done, I learned that there was hope. There were places, including the UW Hospital, where this is now being treated. That was all I needed to hear. The Cardiologist that discovered this had seen this twice in his carrier as a doctor. The first guy did not make it. I was the second guy. The statement that the disease is being treated today, gave me hope. It would require a full heart transplant and then a bone marrow transplant; neither of which are simple medical procedures. But in the end the patient would have a full life and in many cases with very few limitations on physical activity.

I am grateful for the medical advances I can enjoy in the 21 Century. I am also grateful for the answers to prayer that I see daily while waiting here in the hospital. I am also thankful for the gift of hope, that I will enjoy many many more years of laughing with my grandkids, watching them swim, dance, play soccer, graduate from college and get married. Hope will help carry me through the glum days and the pain that are part of the medical procedures that I face down the road. And though the Apostle Paul in his New Testament letter to the Corinthians says that, "three thing last, faith hope and love, and the greatest of these is love..." today hope has become my friend and companion. It has given me the strength I need at this time.