Straight Paths- A Life That Was Changed

A Life That Was Changed

Loren Hardin

For The Ashland Beacon

       This is part two of a series about Donna who was only thirty-six when she enrolled in hospice services with end stage colon cancer. Donna had been a nursing assistant in the ob-gyn practice of Dr. Pettit and Dr. Lopez. Donna loved her job and worked up until six weeks before she died. 

       During my one and only personal encounter with Donna, as her hospice social worker, she graciously chronicled her spiritual journey: “I’d been a Christian most of my life, but I knew I wasn’t giving God everything. I was holding back. I felt like I was going through the motions. I didn’t want to be like that anymore. I told God, ‘Whatever it takes, I want to serve You with all my heart, even if it means getting cancer.’” Little did Donna know that not long afterwards she would be diagnosed with cancer. Then Donna declared, “But my hospital bed has been my mission field. My cancer has taken me places and to people that I have been able to share His love with. I wouldn’t trade it to get my life back. There’s only one more thing I want to see before I die. I want to see Dr. Lopez get saved. He’s on vacation right now.” The day before Donna died, Dr. Lopez called Donna from Myrtle Beach and Donna walked him through the plan of salvation and Dr. Lopez accepted Jesus as his Savior. 

     It’s been twenty-nine years since Donna departed this world for her heavenly home. I thought it was about time I write and pass on Donna’s story. Therefore, I contacted Dr. Lopez to solicit his collaboration and for the past few weeks we’ve met at Panera Bread to review his relationship with Donna and to celebrate Donna’s legacy. 

     When I asked Dr. Lopez to describe how his relationship with Donna impacted the trajectory of his life, he replied, “I think I should probably start from the beginning. I was adopted when I was six months old. I had two special days as a child, my birthday, and my adoption day. My adoption day was my happy day. Some people look at adoption as a sad thing, but my parents taught us that it is was a happy thing. They told us that we were special because we were chosen. My father was a hospital administrator, and my mother was a certified nurse anesthetist. I remember dad taking me to the hospital with him on Saturdays for administrative rounds. I was only eight or nine, but I remember how much the employees loved and respected dad. Dad was a gentle man admired by the entire community. 

     “When I was eleven, I was in church and felt the Holy Spirit and I went to the alter. It was real. That was in December and then eight months later my father died unexpectedly. I was mad at God and couldn’t understand why my father had to die. From that moment on, I wasn’t an atheist, but I was probably an agnostic. I believed there was a God out there somewhere, but I didn’t think he was involved in or cared about the details of our lives. 

     “But when I joined Dr. Pettit’s practice in 1988, angels started entering my life. Four of those angels were Pam, Mara, Fonda, and Donna who all worked in the office with me. They pointed out to me, ‘Dr. Lopez, you seem to really care about your patients, and you are a nice guy, but do you know the Lord?’” 

     I asked Dr. Lopez how he would describe Donna and he replied, “Humble, caring, vivacious, hardworking, and stubborn in a good way. She would go the extra mile. She was one of the staff that I would call in to talk with patients when they were having a hard time, maybe they had just lost a baby. Donna would talk with them in such a loving way.”

     Dr. Lopez recounted, “I was getting ready to leave for vacation and I wanted to see Donna before I left; because I knew there was a chance she would pass before I got back. Donna was at home, on hospice. I visited Donna to encourage her, but she encouraged me. There was a glow about her. I was so impressed with Donna’s bravery, and that she would care so much about someone else when she was on her death bed. She had given me a book on how to win someone to Christ and made me promise to read it. 

     “Pam called me when I was on vacation in Myrtle Beach and told me that Donna wasn’t doing well, so I called Donna. She asked me, ‘Did you read the book? Do you understand it?’ I told her, ‘I’m beginning to’ Then she told me, ‘You need to make a decision and I’m not hanging up until you do.’  We were on the phone for two hours. When I told Donna that I accepted Jesus as my savior we cried together. Donna died the next day.” 

     I again asked Dr. Lopez to describe the impact that Donna had on his life, and he explained, “It was like I embarked upon a journey, a whole new life. It’s like when you throw a rock into a lake and there’s a ripple effect. Now I listen for that ‘still small voice’ of God, (I Kings 19:11-13), and now I want to tell others about Him and about His love.  I’m not good at quoting scriptures but it’s like Jesus said, “Whenever you do it to the least of these, you do it to Me,” (Matthew 25:40). 

     “That’s how it is with God’s love, once you’ve experienced it. You spread His love to everyone, you want to pass it on,” (YouTube, “Pass It On”, by Kurt Kaiser). 

      Loren Hardin was a social worker with SOMC Hospice for twenty-nine years. You can purchase a copy of his book, “Straight Paths: Insights for living from those who have finished the course”, at amazon.