Anyone who can help me, please leave a comment or send a mail (be creative, check linked-in or my website or ...)
“You
have given me hope”
It's not just long term friends who
can change your life. A short exchange of words with a stranger can
be enough. You may gain a new insight, or new strength to hang in and
fight some more. Helping you win that heartfelt battle. Those
strangers, popping by just once at the right time seem God sent.
Stand-in angels.
Is it thwarting Fate, our Creator,
karma, to try to get in touch again if such an encounter is etched
into your heart?
I'm thinking of one young man I met on
the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and the 3d Street Promenade in Santa
Monica, May 2013. He was in a wheelchair, at his feet a cute dark
gray little dog and a cardboard with a lengthy text. No doubt
explaining why he was asking for money.
When I see words, I must stop and
read, so I walked over, my son in my wake. Yet my eyes never finished
the first line. The dog was already between me and the cardboard,
begging to be petted, tail wagging like mad, eyes glowing with
friendliness. Dogs being more interesting than written words, my son
and I went down on our knees to rub and pet and compliment her owner
on having such a happy dog.
“I call her Love Bug” the man
explained. Was he in his early thirties, or am I wrong, do I remember
a few lighter hairs in his short, well groomed beard? “She means a
lot to me, giving me so much warmth.” I saw gentleness and warmth
in his eyes as well. He thanked me for the banknote I had kept hidden
in my hand until then and started telling us why he was begging.
He's had epilepsy all his life, severe
grand mal seizures with a very high frequency. Debilitating and life
threatening. Only recently had he ran into a specialist who
discovered something vital: the seizures could be kept under control
by a diet. It was all just starting up, the diet not completely
worked out yet, but already the young man had profited from regaining
some strength. No longer losing energy in an endless row of
convulsions and tremors he had managed to obtain a new and better
suited wheelchair and GR. However... the benefit was insufficient for
the special dietary food. The money he got from begging allowed him
to buy that. Not begging meant going back to daily seizures and
tremors.
As he gave me details of the diet I
noticed how well spoken he was and beyond his poverty and desperate
state I saw an intelligent and sensitive man. In a flash I saw him in
a suit, working at an office. It could be true if only...
If only he would meet that one
employer who did not only hire risk-free people. People who are
guaranteed to show up at their contracted hours, predictable,
available. Yet can one be sure they will perform so well in
unexpected situations, situations that require real originality or
remarkable tenacity?
I am only an intelligent and highly
sensitive person and this condition alone has taught me most
employers prefer to hire workers who come by the dozen.
I told Love Bug's owner how I, in The
Netherlands, had been receiving my food from the food bank for three
years, getting desperate about ever finding work again. But here I
was visiting L.A. because I had ultimately managed to get a job. I
will not forget the change I saw in his eyes. “Thank you, You have
given me hope” he said, from the bottom of his soul. With
that he gave me hope in return... that I, my life, does matter to
others. Don't we all doubt that at times?
Once I got back to The Netherlands I
wondered if there could be a way to do more. I have a masters degree
in Biology and though I've never worked as a scientist, I still read
articles about neurology and behavior. Proper information might add
to the quality of his diet or result in a more affordable version. I
might get in touch through the staff of the nearby Italian restaurant
whose staff members I've seen spoiling Love Bug with attention and a
treat while sharing a joke with her boss.
The result of my internet research for
anti-epileptic diets was somewhat ironic.... A very good, if not the
best source of information was an organization founded in 1994 to
advocate the ketogenic diet for children with difficult-to-control
seizures: the Charlie Foundation. Located at 515 Ocean Ave, Santa
Monica. One mile from where we had our talk.
Did Love Bug's owner know, was his
doctor somehow linked to the Charlie Foundation, or did he choose
that corner at the 3d Street Promenade by chance? Odd, to be so
hopeless and yet so close to a solution -geographically.
My letter to the restaurant, asking if
they could help me get in touch, wasn't answered. Maybe it got lost?
Or perhaps ... ? I know epilepsy is a dangerous disease.
I still think of Love Bug and her
owner, wondering how they may be doing. This article is my second try
to hear about them, hopefully from them. I don't know that I
can be of real help, but a little attention is like passing on a bit
of love. And thereby hope.
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