Originally posted December 4, 2015
By Michael Carson
As long as I have known her, Satan has thrown a lot at Lorna and her family. Job loss, gallstones, brain tumors and more and more hospital stays. Lorna gets frustrated and discouraged as you would expect, but she fights. She continues to get up and survive to love her family.
Lorna’s family has more health trouble than most I have ever met. I feel like one of them is constantly in the hospital for something, i.e. gallbladder removal, ulcers, bladder infections, etc. Worst of all, a few years ago doctors discovered Lorna’s daughter Allison had a brain tumor. Naturally, Lorna was terrified. The tumor had caused Allison’s speech to slow considerably, she couldn’t walk, lost control of bodily fluids and could barely use one of her arms.
Lorna had to carry her six-year old like a baby up the steep hill and toward the bus stop, to then get off and take another bus, for each and every one of Allison’s chemo treatments. Thanks to God, Allison is now nearly tumor free, only has to go back for check-ups and has retained full motor skills and control of her bodily fluids and speech. But the chemo left her with the side-effects of a poor immune system, which means frequent infection. Allison’s sister Jennifer also suffers from severe stomach issues.
Lorna’s husband Juan helps, but he also has severe back problems. Often when he works, usually manual labor, he has to take off for days at a time due to severe back pain.
As I said, Lorna gets discouraged when Juan is out of work, and she can barely afford to feed her kids. But she pulls herself up, claiming God’s strength. She knows we’re with her and most importantly God is with her. Her daughters are two of our youngest private school kiddos, and Lorna is so proud of them. She sees the blessings even when she’s discouraged, she pulls herself up and keeps fighting.
Will you help us give this deserving mom a break and sponsor her trip to Amapala with us?