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Blog Post #4, November 11, 2010
Living with Hope in North Carolina and in Laos
I recently joined Suzanne and Ronnie Lindley and a number of other YES members at the Charlotte Motor Speedway for a NASCAR 500-mile Sprint Cup race. After taking a red-eye flight from Seattle and arriving in Charlotte, I had met Suzanne and Ronnie and also Miriam Liggett. The four of us loaded up the rental car and off we went to the speedway. When we arrived, it was still some six hours before race time, but I was amazed at the thousands of people already there, milling about, many still in their campers or tailgating or touring the pits or gawking or taking pictures, you name it. And I thought about what tenacity they all showed. Many had arrived not just hours, but days before, to be at this race.
The real purpose of being in Charlotte, however, was not for the race (that was an added bonus!), but instead it was for one of YES's Liver Seminars, an educational concept that Suzanne initiated and that is now spreading to hospitals around the country. The idea is to have a lunchtime seminar that provides a quick hour-and-a-half of excellent speakers and cutting-edge information on liver tumors. Though primarily designed for patients and caregivers, the Liver Seminars series also invites medical professionals who are able to obtain solid, new, and sometime groundbreaking information to help them in the treatment and care of liver tumor patients. Some 90+ people showed up at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
As I lunched, listened, and learned, I watched the transformation in the faces of some of the people in the room. All the patients and caregivers had shown a certain amount of tenacity just by showing up by seeking more information that might benefit them or a loved one. Then in the space of an hour-and-a-half, I watched as a number of these people found not only information but also hope. In this short space of time, people began to comprehend that they might have other options to explore. Indeed, this Liver Seminar talked about several approaches of which many had not heard. And this simple knowledge was transformative for many of those in the room.
What I took away from the experience was the tenacity and resilience of human beings - in this case, liver tumor patients who were looking for unparalleled information, for hope as to how they might approach their own situations. Many found just that. Many discovered that there were approaches that could be tried in their cases or at least discussed more thoroughly with their oncology teams - or they simply learned that there were numerous other people in their same situations.
For myself, I recalled that advocacy is about not giving up. It is rather about living with hope and whatever that concept means to each individual.
As I write this reflection, I'm sitting in my wife's family's home watching Thailand's River Kwai flow quickly past my window (just a few kilometers north of the famous bridge). Next week I head for villages in Laos, where I work with another small nonprofit organization similar to YES in that it is trying to better the lives of individuals. In this case, it is with indigenous hill tribe peoples, many of whom live in remote villages and don't speak Lao but rather only the unwritten languages found in their own villages. These are tenacious people as well - battling to survive, sometimes clashing with corporate rubber plantations or proposed dams that threaten their livelihoods. One could say that these people are about as far removed from the speedway and the Liver Seminar in Charlotte, North Carolina as one can get. In most respects, this would be correct. But they are also similar in the tenacity with which they approach their lives and their living and their world. They have hope, and they are learning to be advocates for themselves and their loved ones.
That is what YES teaches: how to advocate for one's self and others, how to understand the "foreign" medical language that one may hear, how to find and pursue options in the wake of adversity, and how always to hold onto hope'and pass it onto others.
Jim
Living with Hope in North Carolina and in Laos
I recently joined Suzanne and Ronnie Lindley and a number of other YES members at the Charlotte Motor Speedway for a NASCAR 500-mile Sprint Cup race. After taking a red-eye flight from Seattle and arriving in Charlotte, I had met Suzanne and Ronnie and also Miriam Liggett. The four of us loaded up the rental car and off we went to the speedway. When we arrived, it was still some six hours before race time, but I was amazed at the thousands of people already there, milling about, many still in their campers or tailgating or touring the pits or gawking or taking pictures, you name it. And I thought about what tenacity they all showed. Many had arrived not just hours, but days before, to be at this race.
The real purpose of being in Charlotte, however, was not for the race (that was an added bonus!), but instead it was for one of YES's Liver Seminars, an educational concept that Suzanne initiated and that is now spreading to hospitals around the country. The idea is to have a lunchtime seminar that provides a quick hour-and-a-half of excellent speakers and cutting-edge information on liver tumors. Though primarily designed for patients and caregivers, the Liver Seminars series also invites medical professionals who are able to obtain solid, new, and sometime groundbreaking information to help them in the treatment and care of liver tumor patients. Some 90+ people showed up at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
As I lunched, listened, and learned, I watched the transformation in the faces of some of the people in the room. All the patients and caregivers had shown a certain amount of tenacity just by showing up by seeking more information that might benefit them or a loved one. Then in the space of an hour-and-a-half, I watched as a number of these people found not only information but also hope. In this short space of time, people began to comprehend that they might have other options to explore. Indeed, this Liver Seminar talked about several approaches of which many had not heard. And this simple knowledge was transformative for many of those in the room.
What I took away from the experience was the tenacity and resilience of human beings - in this case, liver tumor patients who were looking for unparalleled information, for hope as to how they might approach their own situations. Many found just that. Many discovered that there were approaches that could be tried in their cases or at least discussed more thoroughly with their oncology teams - or they simply learned that there were numerous other people in their same situations.
For myself, I recalled that advocacy is about not giving up. It is rather about living with hope and whatever that concept means to each individual.
As I write this reflection, I'm sitting in my wife's family's home watching Thailand's River Kwai flow quickly past my window (just a few kilometers north of the famous bridge). Next week I head for villages in Laos, where I work with another small nonprofit organization similar to YES in that it is trying to better the lives of individuals. In this case, it is with indigenous hill tribe peoples, many of whom live in remote villages and don't speak Lao but rather only the unwritten languages found in their own villages. These are tenacious people as well - battling to survive, sometimes clashing with corporate rubber plantations or proposed dams that threaten their livelihoods. One could say that these people are about as far removed from the speedway and the Liver Seminar in Charlotte, North Carolina as one can get. In most respects, this would be correct. But they are also similar in the tenacity with which they approach their lives and their living and their world. They have hope, and they are learning to be advocates for themselves and their loved ones.
That is what YES teaches: how to advocate for one's self and others, how to understand the "foreign" medical language that one may hear, how to find and pursue options in the wake of adversity, and how always to hold onto hope'and pass it onto others.
Jim
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