Life is worth living

By Sr. Myra Trainor, O.L.M.
May/June 2010

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Credit: Christine Gebel, O.L.M.)
Sr. Myra Trainor with Jeffery Bond, a friend at Providence Health Care. Toronto

Many fulfilling years of my life were spent in Japan and in the Philippines where I had a diversity of ministries with our rural health program, prisoners, and campus ministry. In my retirement I am grateful to be able to volunteer as a pastoral visitor at Providence Healthcare in Toronto. One resident I meet is Jeffery Bond, who for 15 years had an enterprising business in Australia. Last year Jeff was losing his ability to walk and after some months was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Realizing that his life was being cut short, he decided to close shop and return to his family and native country, Canada.

While the disease continues to creep up his fit-looking body—and Jeff is beginning to have problems in his neck and arms—one can be deceived by his remarkable smile for everyone and his realistic courage.

Research into the disease and the options that are available help him to live his life with knowledge of his illness and the process of it. He tells me that one has 26 months from the time of diagnosis to death. This sad situation takes me back to our rural health program in the Philippines where life for many was expected to be short.

Still, Jeff says that life is worth living and it is important to enjoy it. So he wakes up in the morning and thinks of the things he can do rather than the things he cannot do. With this positive attitude, he uses to the full each precious moment of time that we often take for granted until we too are summoned to another aspect in our life’s journey.

Jeff is obviously sustained by his God. He tells me that he cannot imagine a person not having faith because with faith he finds his peace of mind and comfort. This face of God, which I see in Jeff, is one I have seen many times in the courageous people whom I knew in the Philippines.

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