“Whatever We Imagine”
A song written and produced by David Foster, recorded by James Ingrim – 1983
It was Mr. Good’s Grade 6 classroom, with desks carefully and precisely situated in a U-shape so students could face each other rather than our backs, where my friend Robert sat directly on my left – the 10 o’clock position. Robert was a hard worker. All assignments were handed in on time. Books were carefully placed on his desk so he could, on a fleeting thought’s notice, fetch the required book, and then navigate to the page where Robert could, as only he could do, discern information – and carefully applied it to the equation, or formula, or whatever he needed. And: table hockey. Robert loved to play, and, of course, win at table hockey.
When I joined the David Foster Foundation in an attempt to tell tales and rattle the drum when needed, I knew I would write about Robert. I just didn’t know when. Now is the time. Because the one thing I will always remember was the color of his skin – something which, certainly, didn’t define him; yet, a characteristic – a trait, if you will – of what made Robert the young man that he was. A dark yellow, almost brown, skin draped over his slender – almost skeleton-like – body.
Robert had kidney disease.
As the days creep longer, and the weather, despite climate change surprises, becomes warmer in this, the year’s third month – a year and a half into my DFF tenure – it’s time to remember and celebrate Robert as March is Kidney Health Month.
Moreover, World Kidney Day, 24 hours earmarked as a global campaign with a mission of paramount importance: raising awareness of the importance of our kidneys. Those community champions for the Kidney Foundation, otherwise known as volunteers, along with the Foundation’s staff, will role output public awareness initiatives on preventative behaviors, and risk factors and share the foundation’s programs and services.
If you scroll through the DFF website – and please do – you will see that many young kids, much younger than my friend Robert, have been helped with non-medical expenses. And, it’s highly obvious kidney transplants for children are a common occurrence in Canada. Case in point: three years ago, this month, SickKids in Toronto issued a press release celebrating 1,000 transplants. Just think – one thousand kids were given the precious gift of drawing blueprints to pursue whatever dream they wanted to follow.
Now, back to Robert. He enlisted the support of all of us in Mr. Good’s class for his life-changing event: a kidney transplant. We talked about it. Often. We prayed about it. We encouraged him. Every day. When Robert went into the hospital Mr. Good had all of us make a get well-card for Robert. And then that magic day came when Robert, with his father at his side booming with pride, walked back into the classroom after his transplant. We were excited for Robert, but also felt a sense of nervousness that the transplant would, in fact, continue throughout his life. I vividly remember Robert crying for most of the day. He told us he was scared, but also, overjoyed. It was something I’ll never forget seeing how an organ transplant changed the life of a young man… a subject that wasn’t on the school curriculum.
