Last year, a client in Rockville, Maryland, purchased one of our gift certificates for a colleague and friend of hers who was hospitalized in a Boston area hospital. This week, we received a phone call from the recipient of that gift certificate, a young professional woman who lived in Brookline and in the midst of packing up her belongings and moving out of Boston to return to her native Canada. The new client explained that she had been hospitalized on and off for many months, was not in good physical health, and was not in a position to do any heavy lifting of moving boxes. She would be moving out of her apartment by the end of the week. Her only request for our assistance was to pick up her packages and drop off some charity donations.
Today, we traveled two miles from our office to the client’s apartment near the Coolidge Corner train stop in Brookline. Getting off the 8th floor elevator at the client’s building, we were greeted warmly at the door by the client, her mother and one of her friends. However, the client was quick to motion that there would be no handshakes, as she stood at a distance with a ventilator and breathing tube by her side. As the client and her friend went off to retrieve a box of charity donations and her packages, the client’s mother quietly explained that she traveled from Toronto to help with the move-out, that the client was very ill with terminal lung cancer, and had four unsuccessful lung transplants. The mother also discreetly shared that the client was deeply hurt and discouraged by her health challenges, given that the client herself was very young and had been a very accomplished research scientist at a cancer treatment center prior to her hospitalizations. We thanked the mother for sharing this very personal story and assured her of our prayers and thoughts.
Minutes later, the client and her friend returned with a large box of miscellaneous household goods, used books and faux flowers to be dropped off at a Goodwill store. The client also gave us several packages of items she bought from retailers online that needed to be returned, some to be shipped via the post office and some shipped via UPS. Professional movers would handle the heavier boxes later that week. Her friend offered to carry the box of charity donations to the apartment lobby downstairs while I carried the packages, to avoid having to do several return trips to the client’s apartment. We thanked the client and her mother as we went on our way.
Leaving the box of charity donations in our car, we walked half a block to the local post office and dropped off two of the client’s packages at the counter. We also observed the large number of Forever stamps the client affixed to a legal-sized envelope; the envelope could not have been more than an ounce in weight, yet somehow the client knew there would be no returning to the United States given her medical prognosis and she just wanted to use them up.
Next stop was another short walk off of Beacon Street to the local UPS Store. We had two more packages of returned merchandise to drop off.
Back in the car and making our way towards Boston University and vicinity, we located our favorite Goodwill store, parked behind a row of buildings off of Commonwealth Avenue and left the client’s donations in the hands of the store’s employees.
As we later made our way back to our office, we recalled what the client’s mother had said earlier. We felt great sadness for the client’s personal situation and at that moment, something inside of us compelled us to do even more for this client than just drop off her packages and charity donations. Knowing that the client was moving out towards the end of the week, we decided to offer her any additional assistance that she may need, free of charge. It mattered to us that the client left Boston knowing that someone else cared and wanted to help.
Relaying our offer to the client and mother over the phone and email, they were deeply touched by our generosity and asked us to return to her Brookline apartment tomorrow afternoon. Her father would be in town and she wanted us to help with moving her medical equipment and packing the car for the long drive home.
Before the evening was over, however, the client decided that our additional assistance would not be necessary after all, because her father would be able to take care of the rest for her as she would be at the hospital in the morning for a blood test.
We thanked and wished the client and her family well, and we felt blessed and eternally grateful to have had the privilege of helping a terminally ill person at her time of need. It is what any good neighbor would do.
Images credit: Susan Ho
Connect With Me!