"In the beginning"

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily the views of the blog management, (on the other hand, they are not necessarily not the views of the blog management).

No effort has been made to stay within the bounds of the truth in this blog as it has always been the view of the management that the truth should never be allowed to stand in the way of a good story.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

My Kleenex Shares need a Boost.


Fireman Ben.


In Queensland, Australia a 26-year-old mother stared down at her
6 year old son, who was dying of terminal leukemia. Although her
heart was filled with sadness, she also had a strong feeling of
determination.

Like any parent, she wanted her son to grow up & fulfill all his
dreams. Now that was no longer possible.
The leukemia would see to that. But she still wanted her son's dream
to come true.

She took her son's hand and asked,

"Ben, did you ever think about what you wanted to be once you grew
up? Did you ever dream and wish what you would do with your life?"

"Mummy, I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up."

Mum smiled back and said, "Let's see if we can make your wish come
true."

Later that day she went to her local fire Station in Brisbane, Australia
where she met Fireman Bob, who had a heart as big as Queensland.

She explained her son's final wish and asked if it might be possible to
give her 6 year old son a ride around the block on a fire engine.

Fireman Bob said, "Look, we can do better than that. If you'll have
your son ready at seven 'clock Wednesday morning, we'll make him
an honorary fireman for the whole day.

He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all the fire
calls, the full Monty!

And if you'll give us his sizes, we'll get a real fire uniform for him, with
a real fire hat - not a toy -- one-with the emblem of the Queensland
Fire & Rescue Department on it, a yellow slicker

like we wear and rubber boots. They're all manufactured right here in
Brisbane
, so we can get them fast."

Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Ben, dressed him in his uniform
and escorted him from his hospital bed to the waiting truck.

Ben got to sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to the
fire station.

He was in heaven.

There were three fire calls in Brisbane that day and Ben got to go out
on all three calls.

He rode in the different fire engines that day

He was also videotaped for the local news program.

Having his dream come true, with all the Love and attention that was
lavished upon him, so deeply touched Ben, that he lived three months
longer than any doctor thought possible.

One night all of his vital signs began to drop dramatically and the head
nurse, who believed in the hospice concept - that no one should die
alone, began to call the family members to the hospital.

Then she remembered the day Ben had spent as a fireman, so she
called the Fire Station and asked if it would be possible to send a
fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Ben as he made his
transition.

The Officer in charge replied, "We can do better than that. We'll be
there in five minutes.
Will you please do me a favour? When you hear the sirens screaming
and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system,
that there is not a fire?
It's the department coming to see one of its finest members one more
time.
And will you open the window to his room?


About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital
and extended its ladder up to Ben's third floor open window--------
16 fire-fighters climbed up the ladder into Ben's room.

With his mother's permission, they hugged him and held him and told
him how much they LOVED him.

With his dying breath,

Ben looked up at the fire chief and said, "Chief am I really a fireman now?

"Ben, you are, and the Head Chief, Jesus is holding your hand,"
the O.I.C said.

With those words, Ben smiled and said, "I know, He's been holding my
hand all day, and the angels have been singing...”

He closed his eyes one last time.

My instructions were to send this to people that I wanted God to
bless and I picked all of you.

Please pass this story on there is nothing attached, PLEASE do not
break this pattern, tell the story to your friends;

Uplifting stories are one of the best gifts we receive.

There is no cost, but a lot of rewards, let's continue to uplift one
another!!!


Have a “Wonder Bra” day.

14 comments:

Raggedy said...

That was a beautiful story.
Thank you for sharing it with us..
Hugs

Granny said...

It's wonderful to see examples of the basic goodness of humanity.

Thanks.

Vickie said...

That is so beautiful Thank you Peter, for being special my friend.

JunieRose2005 said...

I loved that story, Peter.

June

Harley Ray Hawkins said...

I'm wiping the tears from my eyes as I type this. Thank you for sharing such a moving story.

Merle said...

Hi Peter ~~ Great story that I also
received yesterday. So you beat me
by one day to that one. Nice Elvis
song. The frog photos were nice in
previous post and your guitar man.
Take care, Merle.

Jeanette said...

Hi Peter
This sure bought the tissues out
like your taste in music
Take care Jan

kenju said...

Peter, it is a wonderful story. I have read it before, told as if it happened here in the US, so I wonder if it is really true - and where it happened.

Gwen said...

Had a little weep so sad and so young....too young.

DellaB said...

It's a tough call, I don't know how people cope with such a thing. I believe we are given strength, we must be!

thanks Peter.

Carolyn said...

I'd read this before Peter, but it still brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for posting it :)

Jack K. said...

Peter, the story is true, only the names and the place have been changed.

It is a beautiful story that can be seen at this Snopes site.

It brings tears to one's eyes regardless of where it orginated. Thanks for sharing. I can never read it too often.

Anonymous said...

Oh my - i'm speechless. Just goes to show you people can do extraordinary things when they want to. Fabulous story.

Big Dave T said...

It seems that firemen are heros in everybody's book. Who wouldn't want to be one, for a day anyway. Wonderful story.

To answer your question on my blog, Mason jars are just your average jars for canning (pickles, tomatoes, beets, etc.)

I'll bet Merle knows about them.