Stuart and Shelby Stout

[Pages:29]Stuart and Shelby Stout

? 2008 by Stuart Stout and Shelby Stout

A ll rig hts res erv ed. N o p ortion of this book m ay be rep roduc ed, s tored in a retriev al s ys tem , or trans m itted in any form or by any m eans -- elec tronic , m ec hanic al, p hotoc op y, rec ording , s c anning , or other-- ex c ep t for brief q uotations in c ritic al rev iew s or artic les , w ithout the p rior w ritten p erm is s ion of the p ublis her.

P ublis hed in N as hv ille, T ennes s ee, by T hom as N els on. T hom as N els on is a reg is tered tradem ark of T hom as N els on, Inc .

T hom as N els on, Inc ., titles m ay be p urc has ed in bulk for educ ational, bus ines s , fund-rais ing , or s ales p rom otional us e. F or inform ation, p leas e e-m ail Sp ec ialM ark ets @ T hom as N els on.c om .

U nles s otherw is e noted, Sc rip ture q uotations are tak en from H O L Y B IB L E : N E W IN T E R N A T IO N A L V E R SIO N ? . ? 1 9 7 3 , 1 9 7 8, 1 9 84 by International B ible Soc iety. U s ed by p erm is s ion of Z onderv an P ublis hing H ous e. A ll rig hts res erv ed. Sc rip ture q uotations m ark ed N L T are from H oly B ible, N ew L iv ing T rans lation. ? 1 9 9 6 . U s ed by p erm is s ion of T yndale H ous e P ublis hers , Inc ., W heaton, Illinois 6 01 89 . A ll rig hts res erv ed.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stout, Stuart, 1 9 5 7 H op e's w is h / Stuart and Shelby Stout.

p.cm . ISB N 9 7 8-1 -5 9 5 5 5 -1 5 8-0 1 . Stout, H op e E liz abeth-- H ealth. 2. O s teos arc om a in c hildren-- P atients -- N orth C arolina-- B iog rap hy. 3 . M ak e-a-W is h F oundation. I. Stout, Shelby, 1 9 5 8- II. T itle. R C 280.B 6 S7 6 2008 3 6 2.1 9 6 '9 9 4 7 1 009 2--dc 22 [B ]

2007 04 9 5 1 6

Printed in the United States of America 08 09 1 0 1 1 1 2 Q W 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Life Is Precious

W riting this book about our amazing daughter has largely been a blessing for Shelby and me. It is also without question what we feel G od wants us to do. Hope was a wonderful child, and her story has inspired thousands. Naturally, we want to share it.

But it has not been without its moments. Almost every morning on the way to work, I pass by a particular bus stop. This bus stop is for younger kids and during cold or rainy weather, the children sit in cars with their moms, waiting for their bus to come and take them to school. It is a routine occurrence, a scene that knits itself into the background of everyday life during the school year. Most folks ride by these bus stops, not giving them a second glance other than to slow down and be cautious. But I notice something more. I see it almost every day and prior to Hope's journey, it would have gone unnoticed by me as well. I see the precious gift of life. I see a mother putting her daughter's hair up or laughing in the car with her when the rain falls outside.

xi

xii

Life Is Precious

I see a father kiss his daughter good-bye and high-five his son as they head to the bus. To them, it's just another day in their lives. Just another day of school and work with nothing out of the ordinary.

But to Shelby and me, it's another day without our Hope. I am writing this book, which is based on my wife's journal during our daughter's illness. Shelby will add " Reflections of a Mother" at the end of some chapters. Then when Hope nears the end of her journey, our roles will reverse. Shelby will carry the narrative for these critical chapters because she spent a great deal of time with our daughter, helping her with the ordinary processes of life. And I will add " Reflections of a Father." I will resume the narrative in the last two chapters. Our purpose for this book is simple. We want to make sure everyone realizes how important, and how precious, is the gift of life. How precious is a moment as ordinary as waiting for the yellow school bus. This book is not limited to parents who have lost a child or have a child with cancer; instead this book is for anyone who is suffering a difficulty--a job loss, family problems, financial woes, divorce. It is for anyone who might be facing tough times in the future. We now know that God wants us all to have the childlike faith Hope possessed, a faith that refuses to be overcome by doubt or fear. This is the confidence that God is there with us and will take care of us. If this lesson is learned before a storm hits (and in this human pilgrimage rest assured that trials and tribulations will come in some form), you will be prepared to weather the storm and come out blessed because of it. When Hope was interviewed by Charlotte radio personality K eith Larson about her wish, she matter-of-factly said, " We're just giving it to God, and He's gonna take care of it. Have a 100 percent faith in God, and anything is possible." And she was right. Hope's wish to fulfill the wishes of the 155 children in North Carolina who suffered from life-threatening med-

Life Is Precious

xiii

ical conditions was realized on January 16, 2004, less than three weeks after Hope's passing. The vast majority of the one million dollars was raised in the month between D ecember 19, when Keith Larson and other media began to tell Hope's story, and January 16, which was the first Celebration of Hope, a gala event to raise donations to Make-A-Wish.

And her faith in God, and in people, made this happen. The Bible tells us that "a little child will lead them."1 We found that Hope's voice as a twelve-year-old led us in our struggles and prompted the entire city of Charlotte to fulfill the wishes of these children. Michael Yaconelli says in his book Dangerous Wonder, "D eep within all of us, there is a voice. It speaks to us continuously, knocking on the door of our consciousness. When we are children the voice is loud. Its loudness is not like a train or jet engine. It shouts to us with a whisper. This voice of our childhood is the voice of wonder and amazement, the voice of God, which has always been there speaking to us, even before we were born."2 Yet as adults, we try to control life and the voice becomes much softer because we think we know best. We grow up and healthy doses of life's realities bog us down. We forget that childlike faith. We hope that this book will help anyone who reads it to regain a childlike faith. That's what we learned from Hope Elizabeth Stout in her twelve short years.

34

M ake-A-Wish

T he fact that our family was enduring this hardship did not make us immune to other problems. I really didn't plan on confronting the reality that fairly soon we would need a new roof for our house, but the roof had other ideas. As I pulled out of the driveway one morning on the way to work, I noticed that several shingles had worked their way loose and were barely hanging on.

Great. Just what I needed, I thought. When I got to the office, I telephoned Dave Ballard, a friend of ours who is in the construction business. All I asked Dave for was the name of a good roofer. The last thing I wanted was to spend time shopping around for one.

Dave told me he would get back to me, and sure enough, he called back in an hour with a roofer's name. I telephoned the man and made arrangements to have him meet me at home later that day.

Normally this would have been a big decision for Shelby and me. We wanted the roof to look nice, and a lot of time and energy

211

212

Hope's Wish

would be needed to pick out just the right type of shingle. Yet when I mentioned that the roofer was coming by that afternoon, Shelby told me, "You pick out the shingles. I really don't care about that right now. Just get it done."

And the shingle selection process didn't take very long. I picked out the shingles to use and inquired about the price.

The roofer gave me a curious answer. "Talk to Mr. Ballard about that. He is brokering this deal. My crew will be here bright and early on Friday, November 21, and, assuming the weather cooperates, we will be done in a day, two at the most. For two days though, it is going to be noisy on the second floor."

That was on Wednesday, November 19. As I went in to show Shelby what I had selected, she reminded me that the Make-A-Wish Foundation was coming over that night, a fact that had completely slipped my mind. In fact, I had planned on returning to my office to work.

So much for that plan. Shelby also had to remind Hope of the visit. She was very reluctant to have the folks from Make-A-Wish come over, but Holly and the students at Weddington High School had already raised over eight thousand dollars for Hope's wish. One night Holly and Austin had suggested that we look on the Make-A-Wish Web site to see if we could get ideas for Hope. We saw a picture of the cutest little three-year-old boy who wanted Ronald McDonald to come to his house for a party. Hope had thought this was the sweetest wish. Yet she was not in a particularly good mood when the doorbell rang at seven o'clock that Wednesday evening. I opened it to find Lynne Allen and Kelli Breaux, who were volunteer wish granters from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Holly had met Lynne the previous year when Weddington High School had funded their first wish child. When Lynne found out that Hope was Holly's sister, she had insisted on being her granter. After we

Make-A-Wish

213

exchanged greetings, I escorted the two women upstairs to the playroom.

Lynne and Kelli sat on the couch opposite Hope. Holly sat on the floor and Shelby sat on the edge of the futon with Hope. I sat behind the futon at the computer desk, a perfect vantage point for me to see everyone's face, which would be very important in about twenty minutes.

It must be noted here that I did not want the Make-A-Wish folks there. When Holly told me that Weddington High School had already raised the money for Hope's wish, and that Make-A-Wish wanted to meet with us, I told her to forget it.

"Make-A-Wish is only for terminally ill kids. Hope is not going to die. Tell them, `Thanks, but no thanks.'"

And then Holly enlightened her ignorant father about Make-AWish: their mission is to grant the wishes of children with lifethreatening medical conditions, not just terminally ill children.

"Dad, a lot of the kids survive. A former wish kid talked to our student council earlier this year, and he was amazing. He had cancer when he was in his teens and is now twenty-five or so and completely healthy."

Since Weddington High School had raised the money for Hope's wish and because Holly had been so active in doing so, I relented and agreed to let Make-A-Wish come over. The staff at Carolinas Medical Center had suggested that it would be good for Hope to concentrate on something else beside her treatments. Still I wasn't too sure about these people as I watched the two volunteers greet my youngest daughter.

"Hope," Lynne began, "it is so nice to finally meet you. I have heard so much about you. I understand that Holly has been talking to you about your wish, so I am sure you have given it a lot of thought. We are here to do everything we can to grant your wish; whatever you want.

"So tell us. What do you want to do? What is your wish?"

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download