1985- A Year to Remember Guillian-Barre Syndrome

Today, I ran upon a small article in the sports section of our Press Enterprise, Riverside, CA Sunday newspaper. It caught my eye because the heading read, "Boy gives ring to 'The Fridge'. That caption alone was enough to catch anybody's curiosity to read further. However, two things jumped out at me about this story-- The year 1985, and Guillian-Barre Syndrome. I related immediately with the contents. You see, it was in 1985 that my father, Francisco Lopez, at the age of 62, was stricken with a virus that changed his whole life, not to mention the lives of his wife, Juanita, and his eight children and their loved ones. Guillian-Barre Syndrome is a virus that affects one of every 100,000 people in the U.S. alone. My father was one of those unlucky people. Getting back to the story in the paper-- in Chicago, a Chicago Bears lineman and occasional goal-line running back had become a national celebrity during his rookie season with Chicago in 1985, and helped the Bears team win the Super Bowl XX title. However, disease and illness does not recognize celebrities or a father of eight. Guillian-Barre Syndrome rendered William "The Refrigerator" Perry the blow of paralysis. Recently, a young ten-year-old "gentleman", (because this is what he is to me) took $8,500.00 out of his college savings, (with his parents' permission, of course), in order to purchase Perry's Super Bowl ring in New York. The interesting thing in this besides the unbelievable compassion and unselfishness displayed in this young man, is the coincidental number 85. It was both in '85 that my father and Mr. Perry contacted the disease, and the amount of money to purchase the ring back for Mr. Perry was $85 hundred dollars. It also reminded me that God truly does bring comfort to those who suffer extreme pain. While my father, Mr. Perry, and countless others have suffered from the debilitating autoimmune disease attack of the nervous system, Guillian-Barre Syndrome, there are the beautiful endings such as this story of a boy giving back to someone who needed encouragement. In the same way in my personal story, there is a beautiful ending. My father, who died in 2006 from pneumonia (complications from having Guillian-Barre Syndrome), lived out 20 gracious years, touching countless lives by each day setting out in his wheelchair making friends in his neighborhood, and never being rude, or grouchy because of his physical ailments. He also managed to bring together his eight children to become a team that worked together to allow our father to remain in the comfort of his home by rotating stays, maintaining his home, and most of all, being the children that their father meant to raise. I pray for Mr. Perry, in his battle with this disease. I ask God's blessing on the 10-year-old, Cliff Forrest, of Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania, who gave sacrificially, simply because, as he told his dad, "He (Perry) only played in one Super Bowl. I thought he would want it (the ring) more than I did." Mr. Perry may have only played one Super Bowl, and my father, Mr. Lopez may have only lived one life, but in both cases, the blessings returned by both of these men to others are innumerable.