The Biorkman family celebrated Christmas last week. November 8th, to be exact. Is their calendar messed up? No, their timing was perfect.
Scott and Diana Biorkman's 5-year-old son, Noah, has neuroblastoma. Recently Noah's physicians determined that he was not likely to survive until December 25th. So the Biorkman's unhinged the joy-filled winter holiday from its end-December spot and ushered Christmas into their home a few weeks early.
This 1 1/2-minute video entitled A Boy's Early Christmas has valuable messages:
- Open and honest communication enables parents to help their child(ren) understand what is happening and prepare for the likely outcome.
- Just because losing a child is excruciatingly sad, the family doesn't have to feel sad throughout every minute of the child's dying process.
The lessons don't end with the videoclip. The world's response was overwhelming, with bushels of letters and cratefuls of packages arriving every day.
As verified by Snopes, the mother posted on their CarePages site: "PLEASE STOP SENDING CARDS AND GIFTS!!!! Noah is very ill. He is not getting out of bed and it's time for Scott, our families, and I to concentrate on our son. His time is very short and he needs us."
Healthy Survivors don't hesitate to tell others exactly what they want and need, even when it means telling people to back off and to respect their privacy.
Wendy, your message is so needed. When a friend of mine faced imminent death because of lymphoma, she met individually with her friends. Then she and her family withdrew to her home where she and they could face her death with grace and dignity.
What she said to me was: "Death is not a spectator sport." I have never forgotten her message.
Dinner left on the porch is a good thing. Ringing the doorbell or calling is not necessarily a good thing.
Posted by: Jeanne M Hannah | November 21, 2009 at 08:35 AM