My word of the day, that arrives in my email each day,  on Monday was apotheosis.

It means the best point in something’s development or a perfect example.

The sample sentence was “He is the apotheosis of kindness, treating everyone with dignity and respect.”

A good word, I thought, one I will try to remember.

 

Robert (not his real name) had given up.

After years on the waiting list for a liver, he decided to take his name off.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) is a numerical scale, ranging from 6 to 40 (gravely ill), used for liver transplant candidates age 12 and older. It gives each person a ‘score’ (number) based on how urgently he or she needs a liver transplant within the next three months.

Now at his appointment, Robert learned his number was going up, and according to his physician he had about six weeks to live.

Robert’s first shot at getting a liver was foiled by an unrelated infection somewhere else in his body that  was enough to make the transplant procedure too risky.  For Robert now, lightning needed to strike twice, and that didn’t seem likely.

So at that moment in the doctor’s office with just weeks left, it seemed hopeless.  “Take me off the list,” he said.  He had some work being done on his house and figured he would just spend these final weeks making sure that got done right.

On his way back to his North Carolina home however, Robert had second thoughts.  He called his doctor back to say he wanted to stay on the list.

 

Lee Dingle, a 37-year-old engineer from Raleigh, North Carolina was playing with his kids in shallow waters on Oak Island, south of Wilmington.  Lee Dingle was married and had six kids. Four of those six kids were adopted.

“My partner, my love, and my home died today after a freak accident. Lee was playing on the beach with three of our kids yesterday, and an intense wave hit him just right to slam his head into the sand and break his neck,” his wife, Shannon Dingle, wrote on Twitter on Friday, July 19.

It has been reported that 55 people in need of transplants received Lee Dingle’s organs.

Shannon Dingle also advised people to “make sure your loved ones know your wishes,” because even though her husband was a registered organ donor, the consent still needs to come from next of kin.

 

Ironically, Mr. Dingle passed away from his injuries on the same day that we lost Donny, also an organ donor, 17 years ago.  It was also a Friday.

We will never understand why God’s plan for Donny and Lee Dingle was not what was to be expected.

We don’t know either why God’s plan for Robert included a slowly failing organ.

 

We push back when we read in the Bible that we are to give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Because that’s not always easy.

Yet we remain faithful.

 

And as for Robert, the weekend following his doctor’s appointment, the appointment he when he almost gave up, he received his second chance.

We will pray for Robert and his family for healing and the fulfillment of what it is that God has planned for him.

 

And my family will also pray for the Dingle family, as we know there are no words at a time like this, except prayer that make any sense.

 

Apotheosis…it seems to work for Donny and Lee Dingle.  “They were the apotheosis of kindness, treating everyone with dignity and respect.”

Yup, a good word I think.

 

A Go Fund Me account has been set up to assist the family of Lee Dingle.  If you would like to donate here is the link. The photo of the Dingle family is from the Go Fund Me page.