Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me. –Matthew 25:40 (NAB)
Many of you have been praying for my dad, who lives in Arizona and is struggling with Burkitt’s lymphoma, a cancer of the blood. I am so grateful for your prayers!
Since May, Dad (called “Bobski” by his friends) has been doing an intense regimen of chemo that involves long stays in the hospital in Arizona, where he lives.
This past week, my husband and I spent time visiting Dad and other family members. It felt so good to put my hand in his and think back to the days when I was his “little girl.”
I firmly believe that God does not target people for suffering, but rather hopes that seeing others suffer, we will do something to show our love for others and make the world a better place. My dad certainly does not deserve this suffering of Burkitt’s lymphoma any more than anyone else does. If I could, I would remove Dad’s current pains, just as he would have removed my illnesses as I was growing up, if it had been in his power.
But God can bring about something good out of our suffering. In this situation, my family has created a team to participate in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s “Light the Night Walk” on this coming Saturday. Light the Night Walk is a walkathon to raise money to provide free information and family support groups to those affected by these diseases, life saving research to end blood cancers, and other similar services to families affected by leukemia and lymphoma. We are not able to prevent my dad’s condition, but we can work together with the hope of helping others or maybe even one day preventing these diseases.
If you would like to make a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Dad’s honor, you can support “Bobski’s Team” by clicking here. (You should see the same picture of Dad as in this blog post.)
Until next time, thank you for your prayers and support–and Amen!
Spiritual Drawing Board 
Julie, prayers for your dad for sure. Love to known the exegesis (as Archbishop Roach used to ask me!) of the nickname “Bobski.” I might find I’ll copy it!….bob z
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Thanks, Bob Z!
From what I understand, when Dad was working at Bill Luke Chrysler in Phoenix, AZ, another Bob was hired, so there were two “Bobs” working as mechanics. Because Dad’s last name, “Lelakowski” was “so long” or “so complicated” (I’m assuming here, because that’s what others used to tell me–for us it was easy!), people eliminated the “Lelakow-” to make the shorter, easier “Bobski”… I rather have the impression that Dad likes this name. Funny, I never thought about how YOU could be called the same if you wanted. Small world… Thanks again.
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