On Saturday Evening, July 25th, I spent some time in the filled-to-capacity Almonte Hospital Emergency Room for an increasingly severe abdominal pain which, as I would learn early the following day via CT scan at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital, was a perforated appendix. As I sat in the waiting room at the Almonte Emerg., the pain became quite unbearable; I eventually had to stretch out, so I lay on the floor near the washrooms where I wasn’t in the way. All emerg beds/staff were occupied.
Along came a lovely lady, herself or her loved one also waiting to be tended to, bringing a folded blanket of her own and she helped my husband get me up enough to lie on the blanket which helped in comforting me as I dealt with the pain. Some other kind folks in the waiting room came over to ask if there was anything they could do to help. By the time I was admitted to emerg and my husband went to return the blanket to this kind lady, she was gone. I hope she will see this message and has got her blanket back, and also that the folks who offered their help will see this message.
To say I was touched by this kindness would be putting it mildly. A simple “Thank You” is so inadequate so I will leave you with a quote that I stumbled across a few years ago. It resonated with me and I hope it conveys how deeply I felt your kindness.
“It is not genious, nor glory, nor love that reflects the greatness of the human soul, it is kindness”
Eleanor Winters.
Editor’s note: The quote was written by Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire, a French Catholic priest and preacher who lived in the 1800s.
