Hi Rein,
Nice to meet you here. I am a survivor and am in the process of writing a
book about my life and the things I was able to do to help others. I once
wrote a true story about having hope that I entitled "The Window". I would
like you to read it.
Any time that I end a message I say two numbers 18 both of them together
symbolize life
18's to you Rein,
Marty
* The Window *
* *
This is a true story that took place more than twenty
years ago.
There were two men in the cancer ward of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York
City. They were in Ward KCC-6 North, which was at that time the cancer ward
at that hospital. Both of these men were suffering from the end stages of
Leukemia. They were there basically to die. One of these men had his bed
right next to the only window in the room. The other one was across the
room and had no access to the window. The man by the window would always
tell the other man how beautiful it was looking out of that window, and let
him know what was happening outside. He would talk about the beautiful
skies, and how all of the little children were playing in Central Park. He
would tell about the green grass, and the people who were having a picnic,
and the dogs that were running around, as well as the ice cream truck with
the man selling ice cream pops to the little children, and the hot dog
vender also selling hot dogs with mustard and sour kraut. He would tell the
other man that he would be able to see all of this for himself once he was
healed. This went on for about two weeks, and one morning the nurse came
into the room as she usually did, and presented these two men with their
sponge baths. She first went over to the man who was by the window to find
that he had passed away in his sleep. She then covered him up and left the
room for a couple of minutes. When she returned, there was a doctor with
her. This was a fairly new young doctor who would pronounce the man dead,
and at that particular time, 8:40 a.m. even though he had obviously passed
away some time during the night .The other man across the room with tears
running down his cheeks became quite depressed at seeing his roommate
wheeled out of the room, declared dead. He thought about how this man would
always try to make him happy with him describing all of the nice things he
was able to see outside .Later on that day the nurse returned and made up
the bed in the room that was now unoccupied. The man in the other bed asked
if by any chance he would be able to be put by the window. The nurse was a
very kind and compassionate woman besides being a very competent nurse, and
she wheeled him over .Although this man was unable to prop himself up to
see the outside because he had recently had his Spleen surgically removed,
he tried but finding it was just impossible. The next day came, and he
again tried and although he was in a great deal of pain he managed to very
slowly prop himself up and peer out of that most appealing window. He was
absolutely shocked at what he was able to see, or to put it another way,
what he was unable to see. There was nothing there but a brick wall! He
wondered why that man would always tell him about what a beautiful world it
was out there when in fact there was nothing but that brick wall. At about
that time the nurse came in with his sponge bath. He immediately without
any reservation asked her why the man would always tell him about what was
happening outside when in fact he wasn't able to see anything. The nurse
then told him that he was correct. The man who had been by that window was
in fact not able to see anything because he was blind.
The man then realized that the other man was trying to make him feel good,
and try to become well once again. And, as it turned out that other man did
in fact return to health but not until he was able to receive a Bone Marrow
Transplant. There was a donor found, his sister, and although he had to
live in a plastic bubble for many months without having a window in it he
would also be able to see all of those wonderful things that this world has
to offer. In effect the man who passed away prepared the other man so that
he would be able to tolerate something that no one could ever imagine
happening to anyone. I know all about this story because I was that other
man, and without this blind man’s help I would have never been able to
really “see” what the other man saw, even though he was totally blind. I
gladly wrote this story to be able to make others understand that there is
hope even though you cannot see any hope. There is something to be learned
by all of this, and that is to never give up hope. Most of us are blind to
this fact, and we can only see what we want to see. Sometimes it takes
someone that can really see what is out there even though he is blind. Or
was he?
Authors’ note:
I wrote this story on May 21, 1990, which I consider my second birth date,
because that was exactly one year after my Bone Marrow Transplant. My
actual birth date was on May 21, 1944.
It is my wish that whoever reads this will take comfort in the fact that
there is a beautiful world out there, and they must have hope in order to
really be able to “see” it.
*Martin Gartenberg*
On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 11:30 AM, rien jonkers <[email protected]> wrote:
> Here is the link to the magazine:
> http://www.leukemie.nfk.nl/publicaties/leukonieuws Unfortunately, all is
> in Dutch.... Ciao, Rien
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* "Tauler, Helene [HDS - CTI]" <[email protected]>
> *To:* "'[email protected]'" <[email protected]>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, May 15, 2012 7:03 PM
> *Subject:* FW: [CMLHope] are there creative authors in this group?
>
> Do you have a link to your magazine that you could send???
>
> Helene Tauler
> Supervisor, East Purchasing
> Creative Touch Interiors
> Capitol Heights, MD
> office 301-808-8440
> cisco 511-8440
> cell 240-876-9784
> fax - 866-544-5749
> [email protected]
> *One Team, Driving Customer Success and Value Creation*
> *CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:*
> This message is for intended addressee(s) only and may contain
> confidential, proprietary or privileged information, exempt from
> disclosure, and subject to terms at: http://www.hdsupply.com/email/.
>
> *From:* [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] *On
> Behalf Of *rien jonkers
> *Sent:* Tuesday, May 15, 2012 12:56 PM
> *To:* [email protected]
> *Subject:* [CMLHope] are there creative authors in this group?
>
> Hello fellow patients!
>
> I am consulting this group since 8 years and all the information has been
> of great help for me; thanks a lot!
> Now I write you in my function as volunteer-editor of our Dutch magazine
> for leucemia-patients (called LeukoNieuws). We are publishing a series
> where we pay attention to patients who find distraction in creative arts.
> We already had painters and sculptors and also musicians. But now we would
> like to give the floor to the creative writers (novel/storywriters or
> poems). In Holland, it is difficult to find fellow patients who write. That
> is to say there are quite a lot who write about their own illness, but that
> is not the type of writing we are looking for. I know that this group is
> visited by people form over the world, so there is a chance that I could
> find a creative writer here somewhere in the world. Because I will have to
> translate, I would prefer to have suggestions in English, French, Italian,
> German or Dutch. Thanks in advance for your help!!
>
> Ciao,
>
> Rien
>
> ------------------------------
>
> --
> [CMLHope]
> A support group of http://cmlhope.com
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