Miracles Happen

I haven't posted for awhile, with good excuses. Life. Working on Revisions. Social Media. Attending a Conference. Vacation. Family illness.

Today I'd like to write about my niece, Tasha. She lives in Texas, over 700 miles from my home, so I only see her every couple of years. Tasha has always been my sweet girl. She is filled with love, and compassion. She's lucky in love, having married Mike 20 years ago, and they have two children, Austin just graduated from high school and will be attending college in a few days, and Mikayla, who's eleven going on 30.

Tasha's life is not perfect. She's been thrown challenges and roadblocks with life threatening diseases. She has lupus, an auto-immune illness, fibromyalgia and her blood constantly clots. She also gets painful kidney stones, migraines and a racing heart and high blood pressure. In spite of these obstacles, Tasha continues to work and spend time with her family.

In May, Tasha needed a heart stress test, and had a scan done prior to the test. The scan showed a mass on her pancreas.

My days filled with prayers for Tasha as she had tests and visited doctors and talked with a surgeon. I knew this was a serious matter, and I know Tasha wondered about how much time she might have.

I believe in the power of prayer and have always placed my trust in God. I had a cancer scare in March, 2016, but my surgery went well, and I'm doing fine. I prayed that the same be true for Tasha.

When Tasha's surgeon examined her MRI results, he assured her he could remove the tumor, and that he believed she'd have no complications. She was one of the lucky 5% who had a tumor on their pancreas that can be treatable.

Wanting to spend time with Tasha before her surgery, I visited her in May, finding her at her desk working when I arrived. Her spirits were high and hopeful. She looked as healthy as possible, she looked like Tasha, always smiling.

My three days were spent at her home, eating out with the family, and visiting her children at school. It didn't matter that she had a job, her family came first, and that week both her children had activities at school to celebrate the end of the school year. She and I went to Mikayla's school and watched as Mikayla and her friends played games, had races, and hobbled around the track in gunny sacks. Tasha took pictures and cheered her daughter on.

An hour later found us at Austin's school where his classmates were finishing up a game of baseball, and then the fun really began. They had a water balloon fight. Tasha and I couldn't help but get wet, too. I noticed at both school activities there weren't many parents. Tasha made it a point to always be involved in her children's activities, and after school sports, in spite of how she felt.

Driving from Mikayla's school to her home, Tasha spied a cardinal injured on the side of the road. She stopped, picked up the stunned bird, and took it home to mend. A few hours later, it was ready to fly, and she released it in her backyard. Tasha said a cardinal is a messenger from a loved one, and I think now that was why the bird appeared. It wanted to assure Tasha that despite her illness, all would be okay.

The bird was right. Tasha had her surgery the middle of June. The tumor was removed, along with the tail of her pancreas and her spleen. The doctor is pleased with her progress. She was only in the hospital a few days, preferring to recuperate at home. She is on meds and in considerable pain, but is healing. The tumor had not spread. She's not on chemo or radiation. She is a walking miracle.

I wanted to write about Tasha today because she is my inspiration. No matter what life tosses her way, she fights back and wins.

With my writing, I have many roadblocks; my revisions aren't going as I expected, my manuscripts are rejected, agents turn me down. Discouraging, yes, but like my niece, I don't give up. I read books on writing, attend conferences, spend time with my writers group, and revise as many times as necessary until I am satisfied.

If Tasha can keep working and raise a family with all her hurdles, the few I receive in my writing are nothing. Like Tasha, I keep on, keeping on.