Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Spring 2014 | Page 46

I PUBLISHEDalumni Great Hope This author learned to tell the story of hope in the midst of deep loss. Jennifer Labadie by Jennifer Labadie Fromke ’92 Fromke ’92 writes from North Carolina, where she lives with i crowded into the dim, private room with Dad and Nana. Under a thin blanket, Poppa looked so small. My mind thundered back to the days when I struggled to keep up with him on a long hike. When we ran the horses at the end of a trail ride. When he water-skied at the age of seventy-two. Dad woke him. “Dad. You have a visitor.” Slow to sit up, he sat on the edge of the bed, rubbed his face, stared at the floor. His white hair stood up in the back until Nana smoothed it down. “Dad? Would you like to move to the chair? Jenny’s here to visit.” “Who’s that?” My heart sank. “Jenny. You remember.” His big blue eyes, a matching pair to my dad’s and my daughter’s, staggered their way to my face. “Jenny.” His familiar voice echoed in my ears, but I longed to hear him call me “Chum.” Did he remember he called all of his grandchildren by that name? Did he remember us at all? My throat ached. I blinked away tears. Through the planning and travel and arranging for this meeting, I’d been so anxious to see my grandfather, I’d skipped over the reason for my visit. My last visit with him before . . . I swallowed hard again. W H EATON .EDU / M A G A Z I N E 141833_56-65.indd 57 her husband, Jon Fromke ’92, and three teenagers. Her debut novel, A Familiar Shore, was released in 2013. She has published several short stories over the last two years, and is now working on her second novel. ... “Hey, Poppa.” My family has walked the Alzheimer’s/ dementia road with two of my grandparents, as well as with other extended family members. We hope this will be the extent of our experience with this disease. Whenever the word Alzheimer’s is spoken, it’s typical for a dark cloud to fill the room and for people to become very solemn, because with a diagnosis like that, there’s no obvious hope for fixing the situation. As I began to research the novel I’m currently writing, I heard a woman speak on the topic of Alzheimer’s, and how a caregiver can survive the ordeal. She spoke from personal, painful experience. “But there’s a sweetness in every stage, if you look for it.” Her words soaked into my soul, and I knew I’d found the theme for my story. I loved the hopefulness she exuded. She took a realistic view of her mom, who no longer recognized her, and she also took delight in discovering new things about her, even as she descended further into the disease. She looked at how God used her mom in the lives of people around her, despite her illness. Even in the middle of the dark road that is Alzheimer’s, God places blessings along the way. Tiny glimmers of hope catch the eye, like light glinting off broken glass. They may not change the course of a patient’s life, but they prickle with potential for changing the life of someone who knows them. I’ve seen it in my own experience. I’ve heard about it from others. I’m so grateful for God’s placement of hope in this dark world. I find myself writing about it. Writing with great hope. WHEATON 3/19/14 8:28 PM