Sad Heart

For the past few days I have been dealing with a very sad heart.  My friend Theresa Arini is on life support and her husband Vincent is by her side since it happened last Tuesday.  Things are not looking promising and it so saddens me.  When I talked with her a few months ago we were going to get together after she moved.


I had the privilege to meet Theresa about 15 years ago at a Woman and Disabilities conference.  We hit it off right away and enjoyed our time together.  We kept in touch and after I got my job at at CIL she came in for some services.  Later she got hired at the CIL so we became work buddies.  Both of us had breathing issues, and we both used mobility devices.

We found that our working conditions were fraught with dangers and had a toxic effect on us. There were many discussions on how abusive and intolerant some of the other employees were to other people with disabilities.  The irony was, we were working at at  CIL, we were to be the advocates for those with disability issues.

Theresa had quite a few disability issues to deal with on a daily basis and yet she did it.  She became my  hero and I told her so.  She is 13 years younger than me but since birth had to overcome and deal with life threatening issues.
There was one thing I loved about Theresa and that was her sense of humor.  Sometimes she would wheel into my office and ask if I could but her shoe back on her artificial leg, she could not bend the foot.   She said that some of the other employees wee not comfortable helping her.  A couple of other times she would come into the office and whisper, "could you help me put my leg back on?".  I agreed and we would go to the bathroom, both of us in our mobility units wheeling down the hall, and help her reattach her leg.  Other times she needed some help with her oxygen tanks and I would help her switch them over.  YET, Theresa worked 40 hours a week, and she did so because she loved her work.  
When the CIL made it too toxic for her (and me too), she was devastated, but went on to getting a job with the state, better pay and people.

Theresa was almost finished with her Master's Degree from Wayne State University, she said she just had some funding issues left.  Quite frankly I think WSU should have just given her the degree for living the life she had. 


I found some pictures of Theresa on her FB page and am including them here.....

This is Theresa about 1972............

The Theresa I worked with

 A picture from her sister

When ever I think I have it bad, Theresa comes to mind and I shame myself for feeling pity.  Theresa and Vince travel, have great family and are always active.

A few months ago when I talked with Theresa she expressed her concern that her heart was not doing well at all and that her breathing was giving her grief.  I understood what she was saying and we discussed how we struggled with these issues.  Both of us felt that we were a burden to our spouses and wished that we had easier lives.  I was looking forward to coming up to see her and regret that the summer gave me so much trouble this year.

I have one wish for Theresa and that is she be peaceful and without pain.  I am not sure what God has planned for her, but I know my heart hurts because of her struggles and the pain that Vince is going through now.  My prayers are for both of them.