Ben ….. What can I say? He was the most beautiful guy my 21 yr old eyes had ever seen…… tallish, mocha skin and a killer smile…. I was an intern at Lagos University teaching hospital. The first time I saw him he was flirting with the nursing students and it seemed that every time I saw him he was always walking aimlessly around the medical ward, chatting up girls and generally clowning around. I really didn’t know why he was always around, but he just always was…. A few months passed by and I occasionally would see Ben and would always make a pithy statement about him…. I just didn’t like him…. For no apparently clear reason…. He seemed so cocky and so full of himself !
On the first day of my Internal Medicine rotation, we were assigned patients and life went on as usual….. One day a new patient appeared on my list His name was Ben Winter (note I had seen Ben around, but did not yet know his name) and I was at first surprised because I had never seen him in a hospital gown. To prepare myself for rounds and familiarize myself with the ‘case’ I picked up his chart, and got the biggest shock of my life…… This golden boy, this Adonis, was dying! He was in the final stages of Acute leukemia and his bone marrow (the part of the bone that produces blood) had burnt out, and his only hope of staying alive were the transfusions that he had to have every 3-4 weeks, hoping against hope for a miracle…. I was devastated! And I felt horrible for misjudging this man so badly…. He was only trying to make the best of a very bad situation!….. You see he was an only child, and his dad was not in the picture so his mom was the only constant support he had, but he didn’t let that get him down….. He was always trying to make other people laugh and always had a smile on his face….. I cried that day…. But had to dry my tears because I had a job to do….
I was on my medicine rotation for three months. Some of the time Ben was my patient and at others I just took care of him while I was on call…. Needless to say, we became quite close and developed a deep friendship…. I was privileged enough to be a part of the process that led to him accepting Jesus into his heart…. I would sometimes go just to visit Ben and we would spend hours just talking, about our faith, about life…. Sadly Ben didn’t get better despite all the treatments and prayers… After a while he just stayed admitted because his need for transfusions were getting more frequent.
One day I got called to the floor that a patient was not doing well …. It was Ben…. he had developed complications and was not expected to live much longer…… There was not much I could do, but we talked until he could no longer speak…. I just held his hand and I don’t know whether it was a few hours or a lot of hours, but Ben died that night…. He didn’t look too pretty, but his face was so beautiful because he died with a smile on his face…. I know I will see Ben again someday ….. But as I remember him today I remember a courageous, generous, and beautiful child of God and I remind myself that not all that seems to be, is…. The real miracle was the beauty of Ben’s life and all the people he touched with his laughter and with love….
So Ben Winter I remember you with love today, and I celebrate all 22 yrs of your life…. You touched my life for all time….. Salut my friend I WILL see you again….
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