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On the 5th floor of Nationwide Children’s Hospital is where we reside. On the floor are families that have come from different parts of various states hoping to offer their child the chance for a better life. We exchange pleasantries as we pass in the halls and some times, late at nite we have our own parent conferences.We discuss the diseases that have taken up residence in our children’s bodies. We talk about how long we’ve been here, what symptoms we are having, what has worked when they were at the same stage. Some times we embrace and cry and pray. These people that we came in here not knowing one another have become family. We have become reliant on the encouragement that we hear while passing in the hallway.

There is a little boy, on the floor, who is 8. Very close to the age of my Jaylon. This young man and Jaylon were in PICU at the same time. They stayed about the same length of time. They came back up to the floor the same day. They too have a bond. They share the common thread of a journey in hopes for a better life. I had a chance to talk to the father of this little boy while we were in PICU and he told me about the struggles that his son had been through and was still going through. We spoke for a while and parted agreeing to pray for one another. I hand’t seen the family for a while and then when I did I was told that his illness had progressed and that the prognosis was about a week is all he had left. My heart sank. I can only imagine how this family must ache. Watching each breath, wondering if it will be the last.

I’m praying for you precious one. I am praying for your family who will miss you so. I’m praying that God will meet you where you need to be met. And if it is His will, at yourappointed hour that He will cradle you in His arms and hold you, give you the strength to go on.

There is a rule on the floor that when something falls on the floor it stays there and you kick it out. As parents, on J-5, we have our own rule about the floor. When we fall on the floor, too tired, too weary to go on, when our hearts fall on the floor as the resut of news or test results, when we fall on the floor because we have lost our journey, we pick each other up. We hold each other up, we take steps for each other until we can go on, on our own.

This “post” today is dedicated to my family on the floor. Please pray for them. They need the prayers and strength of many.

Denise

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