Sharing Hardships

Late last Friday night, I found myself paying for a home delivery of a box of pizza and a carton take-out of pasta at the house of T and A. J and F were seated at the dining table, T was uncorking a couple of bottles of wine, A was upstairs attending to their kids D and Y.

A and T have been married for almost two years. I, J and F are at their residence to talk about Y’s baptism the following day and his eventual heart operation.

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I got a call from T on Wednesday afternoon, asking me if I would agree to be godfather to his newborn son Y.

“Of course, man!”, I replied with enthusiasm.

“Pero Stiff, the baptism is this coming Saturday,” T mentioned.

“Ha? Pero Y’s not even two weeks old. Why’s the baptism so sudden?”

And that’s when his voice broke. My long-time college friend T explained it to me over the phone.

My eventual godson Y needs heart surgery urgently, scheduled for the following week. Without the operation, the doctors aren’t sure if the infant would survive for more than two months. With a leap of faith, T and his wife A gave the go-ahead of the operation despite their foreseen problems of financing the whole procedure. Having the baptism before the operation is their insurance. In case the operation fails, they’ll be sure that Y will be one of the angels who’ll watch over us.

Meekly, I said, “Sure, I’m honored to be his godfather. I’ll drop by on Friday night.”

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Over wine, pizza and pasta, I got to learn more about my godson’s condition.

He’s got multiple congenital heart disease.

The least worrying is a hole found at the infant’s heart. The success of corrective operation for this is greater than 90%.

The more worrying concern is a lump of mass that’s blocking the passage between two of his heart chambers. At Y’s age, the success rate is about 80%.

The most worrying complication is that Y was also found to have transposed major ventricles. The success rate for corrective operation on this is also about 80%.
However, doing all three procedures on Y, who is just 12 days old today, is a first-time operation even for the best pediatric cardiologist surgeon in the country. He’s placed his confidence numbers at 50/50 for the operation’s success.

*Sigh.

Preliminary cost estimate for the procedure: 1.4 Mln pesos.

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By coincidence, my godson Y is in need of seven blood donations or two reliable blood transfusions for the course of his operation.

It turned out that I’m a perfect match for him. B+ blood type. Of good health.

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I pray to God that He watch over my godson, and to give his parents the strength needed to conquer this challenge.

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One of my weaknesses as a person is that I readily give aid in whatever form I can to the less fortunate or to those who find themselves facing a great challenge. Some of my peers say that I’m too soft-hearted, too compassionate at times that I make myself prone to being abused by others.

I firmly believe that there’s no such thing as being too soft-hearted.

People should learn to share hardships. Not all people are privileged to experience the extreme hardships that some are subject to. It’s an excellent way to forge the soul to become a better person. I believe that if God doesn’t throw a major obstacle in your path, it’s because He wants you to help those who are having difficulty overcoming their own obstacles.