-The King family

The other day I stepped into an elevator and out of the corner of my eye I saw a woman rushing toward the elevator.  I pushed and held the “DOOR OPEN” button until the woman entered the elevator.  The woman smiled at me and thanked me for holding the elevator for her.  She mentioned that most people would not have held the elevator.  I told her that it is sometimes the little things that mean so much.  A minute or so later she stepped out of the elevator and then so did I.  We went on our own separate paths.  I did not know that lady and honestly I don’t even remember what she looks like. What has been stuck in my head is that holding the elevator for that lady was so simple but it made a positive impact in both her day and mine. 

I have seen and read about coffee shops where one customer “pays it forward” and buys the stranger behind them a cup of coffee.  The recipient of the free cup of coffee continues the act and before long hundreds of customers carry on this chain reaction.  Every time I see or hear about these types of stories I get goose bumps. 

Holding that elevator did not cost me a penny and I invested less than 30 seconds of my time.  Paying it forward with a cup of coffee is only a few dollars.  Normally the time, effort, and money that you put into a random act of kindness is so minute compared to the joy that you get out of it seeing the recipient’s reaction.

So please stop and think about giving this type of gift. Everyone has something to give.  Eye contact and a smile, holding open a door, allowing someone to go ahead of you in line, these are just a couple of ways to get the ball rolling.  Go ahead and try it!

I found a nice definition of a “random act of kindness” on Wikipedia.  Just reading it made me smile. Imagine what the world would be like if everyone performed one random act of kindness a day?

“A random act of kindness is a selfless act performed by a person or persons wishing to either assist or cheer up an individual or in some cases an animal. There will generally be no reason other than to make people smile, or be happier. Either spontaneous or planned in advance, random acts of kindness are encouraged by various communities.”

We were at Balboa Hospital for follow up appointments. We had also planned to meet our new counselor advocate. We met with him and he was very patient and pleasant. The three of us sat together and Travis and I told him about everything that we have been going through. He gave us his undivided attention and listened to everything that we had to say. He advised us of different ways to get help and offered us suggestions and advice. He mentioned a program called Computer/Electric Accommodations Program (CAP). Taken from their website, “CAP provides assistive technology and services to people with disabilities, Federal managers, supervisors, IT professionals, and Wounded Services Members. We buy it, we pay for it, we get it to the users, it’s just that simple.” Our Counselor advocate noticed Travis’s memory loss and felt that Travis would benefit by using a PDA. The counselor advocate, Mr. V told us that there were other devices that Travis may benefit by using. Mr. V sated that he would do his best to get Travis a PDA and informed us that he would contact us when he received the device.

After meeting with Mr. V we couldn’t believe that we had met this person who showed so much concern for what we were going through. Mr. V has a huge heart and we are so thankful that we were fortunate enough to meet him. We walked over to the pharmacy to wait him Travis’s prescription. While we were waiting Travis received a call from Mr. V. He said that he wanted to meet us in the pharmacy. Mr. V found us and asked us to fill out a one page application form for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. I filled out the application for Travis and Mr. V explained to us that this organization may be able to get us the same PDA that we discussed minutes ago but that this organization could possibly get it to us quicker. We sat and chatted with Mr. V for a while until Travis’s prescription was ready. Then we went home. This was on a Friday.

Monday morning Travis and I were on base at Travis’s unit doing some paper work for our upcoming Trip to Stanford. When we finished in his unit we got in Travis’s car, and then he got a phone call. It was from a lady named Sondria. She was calling from the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. She introduced herself and asked Travis a little bit about himself and our family. He shared about the last two years; the surgeries, radiation, complications, our family, as well as my resignation from work. She asked Travis for his address and told him that she was sending him a check/grant as well as getting the PDA for him. Travis finished the call with Sondria and explained to me what had happened. Travis was in shock. He was not used to anyone doing anything for him. We went home and had dinner.

The next day we took Victoria to one of her medical appointments. On our way home we check the mail. There was an envelope from the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. Travis became nervous and did not know what to do. We sent Victoria upstairs so that he could open the envelope privately. Travis sat on the sofa with the envelope, he asked me to sit next to him. I patiently waited as he carefully opened the envelope. There was a signed letter from the organization and a check. Travis looked at the amount on the check and tears started to fill his eyes. I looked down at the check and noticed the GENEROUS amount. We were both speechless. About 24 hours after talking to Sondria, a check was in our mailbox. It has been a week today since Travis received this check and typing it today still brings those same feelings back. It is hard to put those feelings to words and it is hard to explain how my body feels. It is unbelievable that someone that we never met could do this for us and it is even crazier that there are many people who donate and contribute to this organization and makes gifts like this possible.

I am so thankful for this check because it means so much to my husband. These last few years have felt like everything was going wrong. After two years of trying so hard and fighting with all that we had left in us, we finally got a break. I can’t ever replay the people who made this possible. I wish that I would have video taped my husband opening the envelope because then everyone would have been able to see the beauty of his happiness.

Travis sent Sondria an email to thank her because he could not get through to her on the phone. She called Travis back on Wednesday morning. Travis thanked her over the phone. We were both still in shock over the generous gift. Sondria spoke with my husband more about our living situation and the sprung another surprise on us. She wanted us to go to Sleep Train, pick out a comfortable mattress, and have the invoice sent to her. Again, Travis got tears in his eyes. He is not used to anything like this. He has been supporting himself since he left home at 18 years old. Everything he has, he has paid for with money he has earned. Large gifts are not something he is used to.

This all seemed too good to be true. After two years of struggle we have been blessed by meeting these wonderful people who have lifted some of the stress off of our shoulders.

On Thursday we went to Sleep Train. We tried out many mattresses in the store and we found one that was like sleeping on clouds. Travis LOVED the mattress. It made me really happy to see him enjoying himself. We had a very nice salesman who we shared our story with. Travis like the salesman so much that Travis took a picture with him. The mattress was set to be delivered on Friday.

Friday Travis and I went to Balboa for some medical appointments. He had to see his oral maxofacial surgeon, the pain management clinic, neuro-opthamology and we met with Mr. V. We went to Mr. V’s office. He presented Travis with the new super cool PDA device. Needless to say we were very thankful for everyone’s generosity. We spoke to Mr. V about other things going on and without hesitation Mr. V offered us more help and advice on some issues that we were dealing with.

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I had a hard time writing this entry. I was having a difficult time finding the right words to accurately describe the feelings that we were feeling. The support and generosity still seem unreal to us. I will do my best to accurately update and hopefully I can make a video soon to share with you Travis’s true reaction to daily events.

Please take some time to read about the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. The website tells about who they are and has testimonials about what they have done. I am not trying to pressure anyone but if you are interesting in helping this organization to help others, you can donate by clicking here.

After an hour Travis’s radiation was done.  Travis’s neurosurgeon told us that he would like to see us in six months.  He also said that he expects Travis’s eye and jaw to improve over time but if it does not he could see a plastic surgeon.  Travis really enjoyed the mask he had to wear.  He asked his neurosurgeon to autograph it.  Then Travis wore the mask the whole car ride home.  Maybe this is the happy ending to a year and a half of worrying.

(click on the pictures to enlarge them)