One of the families we minister to lost their mama Thursday. It is absolutely heart breaking. She had five children and two grandchildren that lived with her. We were the same age.
All we know is her kidneys stopped working. Well, that’s not all we know....
The kids thought she had the flu. Listening to them, how they tried to get her to eat, and their sad attempts to nurse her, was just pitiful.
Her family: grandmother, sisters, aunts, drove for an hour to sign a ‘Do Not Resuscitate” Order......and then drove back home. When the doctor made his rounds, and explained that the order prohibited him from doing dialysis to save her life, everyone had to be rounded back up to rescind the order. Utter chaos ensued and she never got the treatments.
I was with the kids all day, from morning—when I picked them up to take them to the hospital to visit their mom, to 9:30 pm-- several hours after she went to be with Jesus. I have never seen anything like the scene in that hospital hallway. Two family members were drunk already and yelling at the kids for not calling an ambulance sooner, not being at the the hospital faster....infuriating. They also demanded that the children pack up their stuff immediately to go back with the family (about 1.5 hours away), which Kerra (16) took very badly. Basically she screamed and cried and begged and had to literally dragged out of the hospital. I talked one of the Aunts into letting her stay one more night and say goodbye to her friends at school. She stayed with my assistant Vivian, who also spent most of the day at the hospital. She is pretty close to the family, and has offered to take the two younger children in so they won’t have to stay in Cordele while their older siblings stay in Valdosta.
I still can’t believe that it was just last week that I saw Mrs. Renee, when we were cutting up in the driveway. I can’t help feeling like it was such an unnecessary loss. And my heart goes out to those babies who lost their mama so suddenly. And honestly, I’m sad for me, too. I’ve known the family for over 8 years...Terica (9) was just a baby when I met them! I liked Mrs. Renee a lot, she was a good woman, a good mama, and she will be missed. If the kids have to stay in Cordele, I can’t imagine what it’ll be like not to see them twice a week!
So pray for the kids, that God’s will will be done in their lives, that He will comfort and protect them. And pray for me. Because I’m so sad.
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