Making a Difference

In May of 2008, a group of women from all over the United States joined together in a "mystery project". I will back up and give a little history. In December of 2007, a precious lady named Millie died after an extended battle with cancer. Pat was her very loyal, loving, attentive husband who stood by her side to the very end.

Within a month of Millie's death, Pat was diagnosed with lung cancer. The doctors predicted that Pat had less than a year to live. Of course, no human knows for sure how much time we have remaining in this life. But, that was the prognosis that was given.

Pat had a wonderful, quirky sense of humor. For many years, he had laughed and talked about his imaginary girlfriend named Sandra. Millie had also been in on the jokes, and had laughed about Sandra for years. If anything happened, it was Sandra who had done it. Even right after Pat's diagnosis, he was asked if he needed anything. His response was, "Oh no. I am fine. Sandra is taking care of everything." Weeks later, he mentioned that Sandra had not been checking in on him.

That is where the mystery project began. A small group of women from NC, Wyoming, Texas, Tennessee, Arizona, Missouri, and Florida (I hope I didn't leave anyone out) joined together to become what was soon to be known as the "Sandra Sisters". We thought it would encourage Pat to hear from Sandra over the coming months as he was going through chemotherapy and possibly other types of treatment for the cancer.

Pat initially received a note from "Sandra", explaining that she would be traveling extensively with her job over the next few months. We put together a calendar so that Pat would receive encouraging and intriguing mail each week from wherever Sandra was working in the United States. He even received a note from Sandra when she was in Korea (one of the sisters was on a mission trip there).

The "Sandra Sister" project became a true labor of love. Everyone who was involved shared the gift of encouragement. Our gifted "techie sister" offered to create an online calendar for us so that we could readily see when others were signed up to write, as well as when someone was still needed. Another sister owned an embroidery shop, and made beautiful Sandra Sister shirts for us. After we "came clean" with Pat and revealed our identity to him, this precious sister made Pat a matching shirt which said, "The Sandra Sisters love me." Yet another creative sister offered to make a scrapbook so that we could give it to Pat when the time was right for revealing our true identities. We mailed items to her, and she created an absolutely beautiful scrapbook which was given to Pat months later as his health continued to decline. Every sister was unique, and was willing to do her part.

Why do I suddenly feel compelled to tell you about this? It was a project which could not be done by any one of the Sandra Sisters. We needed each other. When we joined together, we were stronger. It seemed that anything was possible. As women of faith, we committed to pray for Pat and to try to encourage him during some very difficult months in his life. Pat lived exactly one year from the time he was diagnosed. In the next posting, I will share about some things that I learned from Pat during that year.

If any of the Sandra Sisters are reading this message, please know that you blessed my life in a powerful way. You made a difference in Pat's life, as well as in mine.