Thursday, December 11, 2008

A Bad Week for Jerry

Jerry is a regular at Anawim, on the street, riding his bike with a trailer in the back to make it easy to collect recylable cans for his daily income. Last week he had a stroke and ended up at a local hospital "up on the hill". They checked him out and told him that he needed surgery for his condition. However, because of his lack of insurance and lack of home they wouldn't offer him that surgery. So they sent him on his way, limping with half his body moblie but injured, unable to ride his bike, many miles away from his camp. He was so angry at them he didn't bother to ask for a bus ticket, so he started down the dangerous route down the hill, where there are no sidewalks. Finally, someone had mercy on him and put him on a bus for free.

He had his friends help him get around, do some recylcing for bus tickets and he visited about four different hospitials until one finally agreed to do the surgery necessary for him to live-- Providence Hospital in Portland, if you care to know. We prayed hard for Jerry that he would make it through okay with God's help.

They did the six hour surgery last night and Jerry is doing fine. Praise God, and thank God for the compassion of some.

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