Heros And Holy Ground

By Sue Martin

The flags were lined up on the street of Eagle Point as they always are on Memorial weekend honoring all the heroes who fought for our freedom. But, seven years ago on Memorial weekend we received a call that our precious two-month-old Madison died of crib death. She was my sister Doni’s grandbaby, my niece Jennifer’s baby.

Jennifer as a child had cancer and doctors said she wouldn’t be able to have children. But she did. I worried about my sister Doni, it was almost more then she could bear.

Things were starting to get back to normal when Jennifer started getting sick. She was diagnosed with breast, bone, and liver cancer with thirty days to live. My sister took a leave from her nursing job to take care of her daughter. The doctors hit Jen hard with chemo and radiation and we almost lost her more then once.

Sometimes I hardly felt I had the faith to believe she could be healed, but my sister reminded me in Mathew 17:20. Jesus said if you have faith as small as a mustard see you can move a mountain. A single mustard seed is almost invisible. I did have faith.

When her cancer went into remission , Jennifer was getting stronger, growing hair and starting to take back her life. Then she started having head-aches, which turned out to be three tumors in her head. Chemo and radiation started again. She was really weak, but wanted to take her children to the ocean on Memorial weekend, and she did.

Monday morning, Memorial Day, Jennifer went into a coma. I watched my sister and other nurses work hard keeping Jennifer comfortable over the next eight days and when she started seizuring throughout the night how my sister Doni took such wonderful care of her. Doni decided to go into nursing when Jeni had cancer at age two and now it had come full circle. All her training was taking care of Jeni. While family was with her and the song “Holy Ground” was playing Jeni took her last peaceful breath, Doni climbed in bed with her where she spent much of her time and held her daughter one last time. Jennifer’s face, our beautiful Jeni was smiling. What an awesome God we have.

The Lord was with Jeni and our family through it all. She lived eighteen months after her diagnosis. She told me she was fighting to live for her children. I never saw her cry or complain. Why did Jeni die? Only God knows and we trust him. Romans 8:38 says nothing will separate us from the Lord, neither life or death. We know we will be with her again someday. When the flags come out especially on Memorial week-end , I will always be thankful for those who fought for our country and I’ll always remember Madison and her mother Jeni who fought to live and her mother Doni who fought for Jeni. They are my heroes.

Sue Martin writes from Eagle Point, Oregon. rmsm80@yahoo.com