I was almost in time for the church .After having finished a contentious rounds I headed home for a quick bath and rushed towards the chapel which must be around fifteen paces away when a brightly smiling face greeted me.As always it takes sometime for me to put a character and name to faces I have not seen for a while.
I sat in the church trying to dig my memory and suddenly it dawned on me that he was Rakesh’ (name changed) father.
Rakesh was a super intelligent twelve year old who was brought to us with a terminal pleural effusion secondary to relapse of osteosarcoma in the leg.He had had an amputation but the sarcoma had relapsed.by the time he came to us he was very sick.
The oncologist had given him a week to live but he lived three months longer, a time when he became sicker,got to know our campus kids who would run up to him to read him stories and play board games with him while he came in and out of oxygen ,got to know the Word of the Lord better and professed faith in the savior.Whenever I would enter the room he would look at me expectantly.We tapped his pleural effusion off and on till nothing but blood started coming out.
We watched at close quarters and from a distance the family dynamics of that poor but lovely family.
I saw a shadow fleet across the tender face of Rakesh’ six years old brother, perhaps Rakesh must have been his pal ,I know the dynamics that work in bigger families ,I have one.
The family continued to live their lives under the shadow of death ,the kids excited to go to the mela,Rakesh looking forward to a fish dinner, mother holding onto any straw available to keep the child alive.Much to our relief the palliative care team took charge at some point .He survived my holiday of a fortnight home .He passed away one night.
However because of Rakesh,we befriended a village it seems.Anyone coming to us from that village identifies themselves in relation to Rakesh.
He had a traditional burial but today I saw his father skip into church.It made me sad thinking about Rakesh but glad to see how the ministry had made an impact in his father’s life.
I pray we will see the family in entirety saved and sure that they will meet up with Rakesh on the other side of eternity.
‘Christ in you ,the hope of glory…’
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