August 6, 2008 midnight Wednesday

So everyone’s wait is over and we can give out our news. It’s been a very long and trying day. Sorry, it’s not the best news and we want to apologize for keeping you in the dark. The best way to do this is for me to start from the beginning.

During Will’s surgery for his new lungs, things went terribly wrong. Fluid built up in his body and caused it not to accept the bypass machine that would help him breathe while taking the old lungs out. They couldn’t keep his oxygen level up so things didn’t look good. We were told to prepare for the worse but Will being who he is, just kept fighting and with the prayers of everyone, he lived. Then when he was in the coma, the Drs. said he would probably be brain dead. This scenario went on for a few days until Will woke up one morning and proved them wrong again. (We know again was what did that) After a few weeks under a lot of sedating medication I noticed Will wasn’t tracking people that came into the room.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Psalm 34:4 (New International Version)


Here comes the bad part. Will lost almost all of his vision during surgery. We have known about this since then but without having a full exam we didn’t know if there was anything that could be done to help. Today was the full exam and there isn’t anything that can be done medically. He has about 25% of his vision in his lower right eye and that’s all. Thank you for all your prayers, God just decided to answer them later or there is going to be something a lot better for Will. We are all just so happy that Will is still alive.

The reason that he hasn’t wanted people to know is that, first---he didn’t want any sympathy. You all know Will and the kind of guy he is, he hates sympathy. Second reason—he has a ball team that had senior girls that he was very, very close to. He didn’t want them to have to think about Will’s situation in the final months of their high school year. That’s not how he wanted their senior year to end up, he loves them a lot and they love him.

What this means for his life we are not sure. God knows and we need to remember that. We do want to thank God that he has some vision. He can see some shadows on the right side and he sees color in that area. We will work with what he does have. The Moran Eye Center doctor, who was great, is hooking us up with a specialist for low vision people and we’re sure there will be aids that will help us in some areas.

Will has asked me to tell everybody, “I appreciate all the good wishes and prayers that are being said for me.” “Things could be worse, I could have lost all my vision.”

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18


Doesn’t that sound just like him? That should answer a few questions about what has been happening up here. There is a lot of things that have changed so Will needs someone to stay with him overnight. I’m sure people have been wondering why I stay every night and now you know.

We have tried very hard to keep people in the “dark” until school was out. I had to be careful because people were sending us pictures and Will couldn’t see them. So I just said he really appreciated them, which he did. The NBA Championship games he couldn’t watch (because he can’t see TV) so I had to be careful on how I said it on the blog so I wasn’t lying. He hasn’t been encouraging people to come see him because he didn’t want people to know. Now it’s all out in the open and we can just be normal.

Will will be all right because he is who he is. “WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY.” God knew what would be happening in his life. He was preparing Will all this time so he could be ready for this. A few people are going to be feeling that this is so UNFAIR—which is what Tom and I felt when we found out also. Well, life isn’t fair and Will has had plenty in his life already so why add more?? Again, we all need to have faith in God’s works. He has a reason for this. Who knows, maybe someday Will will be the first person to have his nerves in his eyes repaired---ya never know. His whole life will be changed but he has such a great support group---all of you and most importantly he has his faith in our Lord. God will never forsake him.

Cast your cares on the LORD
and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous fall.
Psalm 55:22 (New International Version)

I found a prayer from a book of prayers that I kept and I guess this is the reason why I kept it because it fits perfectly:

Lord, your Word has such healing power. Thank you for the promise that no matter how dark our days can be, You will never let us be lost or separated from Your love and care. You will never allow us to suffer more than we can bear! Even more, You comfort us through Your Holy Spirit and save us from having despairing hearts.


I hope that those of you that are so sad right now will find comfort in these words. Will will have many tough days ahead of him but he will do just fine.
TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST, TOUGH PEOPLE DO.
Will is one of the toughest!
P.S. This has been a very hard blog to write. I’m sorry for the rambling. Tom, Angel and I are very glad that Will has such a great community and family that will help him through this time. You can write any comments for Will on this blog and I will see that he gets them. Or, if you don’t want to do that, you can email me and I will read them to him. harbisonterri@hotmail.com

God bless and keep the faith.