Sometimes, we read or see or hear of something that just tugs at our heartstrings and propels us forward with the urge to do something about it.
Yesterday, on Dee’s blog, coming home to myself, she posted a story about two other bloggers who are neighbors and friends. Theirs is such a warm story about the extent friends will go to help each other in times of need. It is also about how this thing we call blogging can become a powerful tool to help each other.
I will let you find your way to Dee’s blog, which you can do by clicking here. Dee tells this story much better than I. I encourage you to read her post and perhaps visit the other two blogs she highlights which are about Elisa and Melynda.
Melynda is a long-term juvenile diabetic who is losing her sight and has had multiple surgeries. Her medical bills have financially devastated her family in ways we all fear and she has just undergone surgery on one of her eyes in hopes of restoring some of her vision. In spite of diabetes, she still has a remarkable sense of humor.
This is the story of Elisa as well who, along with a few other bloggers, has managed to publish a book of Melynda’s lively posts to surprise Melynda. It is titled Just Nonsense by Melynda Fluery. Proceeds from the book will help to defray her medical costs. Information and links to sites like Amazon are available on Dee’s blog.
This story tugged at my heartstrings in so many ways. It also hits close to home. As many of you know my husband, Tom, is also a long-term diabetic. I wrote a bit about him when Ron Santo died. Tom takes exemplary care of himself, but 45 years of this insidious disease has taken its toll over the years, including vision problems, surgeries, chronic foot ulcers, and on and on, not to mention a life-style that is often a challenge. I guess what I’m saying is that we understand much of what Melynda is going thought, and that we know the importance of a good sense of humor as well.
I hope you will take some time to learn more about Melynda’s courage, and that you will consider purchasing her book as well. Off I go to break my book diet and order Just Nonsense from Amazon. It feels right when we find something that can do for someone else. Yes. It feels right.
I may be ordering one as well. Penny, I know that you and Tom have been through so much and I am touched by your empathy toward Melynda’s situation. I read Dee’s blog and I guess both of them are amazing friends to each other. I agree, it feels right.
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That is nice of you, Janet, and I’m so pleased you agree. I read just a bit of the two others’ blogs, and they have such a good friendship. There is one story of Elisa’s house being robbed. Melynda sat at her house across the street all night, guarding her friend’s house so that it wouldn’t be robbed again. Bear in mind, she couldn’t see, but did it anyways, saying that the robber wouldn’t know she couldn’t see. It is told in the most amusing of ways. Well, I rattle on . . .
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Penny, I just thought that I would let you know that I pinned this book on Pinterest. It may send new people to your blog and hopefully some people will buy the book.
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That was so nice of you, Janet, and what a good idea. Thanks for thinking of doing that and for letting me know. You are the best, dear friend.
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What a heartfelt, kindly posting, Penny. Thank you.
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You are welcome, Nan. Thank you for commenting.
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So glad you’re taking this tale up, Penny. Thanks.
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Such a small thing to do, Kate. Dee explains it all so well, doesn’t she?
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She does. And with a heart of such integrity.
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Amen.
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Having read Dee’s original post, it’s lovely to see you spreading the word too, Penny. I didn’t know until now about Tom’s diabetes. A difficult disease to live with lifelong, as i know from an old friend’s experience.
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I’m so happy to be able to spread the word. Yes, Tom is diabetic. He sometimes describes it as a very exhaustive sport – I call him a pioneer for all the younger diabetics that follow. Here’s hoping and praying things go well for Melynda.
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Penny, I will be happy to spread the word about this book and buy my own copy. Diabetics are rampant in my family, Types I and II in equal measure.
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That is wonderful, Andra. That is certainly a concern for all of your family, isn’t it? Let’s hope Melynda comes out of all of this with some improved vision.
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I responded, too, Penny. I was so touched by the way Dee reached out to the “community” on behalf of her friends! I’m having lunch this week with a friend in her early sixties who is beginning to have some very serious repercussions from her life-long Juvenile Diabetes. She has lost a lot of her vision, but I hope we hear good news about Melynda. What a lovely post to spread the opportunity to buy the book, and to consider the implications of JD! Debra
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I’m so sorry to hear of your friend’s difficulties, Debra. I don’t think people realize how very serious JD is and all the complications that arise from it over time, no matter what a diabetic does. There is this perception that a diabetic takes a shot, doesn’t eat sugar, and is fine. Not so. Perhaps we can help by just talking and informing here and there on the blogosphere; for Melynda, your friend, my Tom and so many others.
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Dear Penny,
What an inspiring posting you did on Melynda and Elisa and JD. My cousin–who was very dear to me–died last year on February 15 from the complications of diabetes. She’d been on dialysis for several years before she got a kidney transplant in 2007. Four years later her body simply couldn’t take any more and she died.
Diabetes is a devastating disease.Dastardly. It robs a person of so many things we take for granted. The wonder of my cousin was that she remained so upbeat. So positive about life. Melynda, with her sense of the ridiculous, reminds me of Kay. Reflecting on all my cousin went through keeps life in perspective for me. She was a blessing in my life.
I so hope that your husband keeps the dire results at bay for many more and many long years.
Peace.
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Such a loss for you and your family, Dee. Just a year ago and still so fresh a wound. I think that the more attention brought to JD and its complications, the more people understand and hopefully a cure will come. It is good to remember the blessings of family, isn’t it? I think you would like my Tom. I call him the Pied-Piper of the Pancreas and he laughs at me. You see, he has gotten so many people with JD to take better care of themselves, from youngsters just learning to deal with diabetes, to a clerk at Home Depot.
Thank you Dee, for your words here, and for your sensitive blog about Melynda. Here’s hoping and praying for her.
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A very inspirational post Penny and so good of you to help get this information out. I too will be looking for this book on Amazon.
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Thank you, Janet; for the compliment, and, most importantly, for the book.
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