I spoke at a middle
school in the spring of 1995. When the program
was over, the principal
asked me if I would pay a visit to a special
student. An illness
had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an
interest in meeting
me, and the principal knew it would mean a great
deal to him.I
agreed.
During the nine-mile
drive to his home,
I found out some things about Matthew. He had
muscular dystrophy.
When he was born, the doctors told his parents
that he would not
live to see 3, then they were told he would make
it to 10.
He was 13 and from what I was told, a real fighter. He
wanted to meet me
because I was a gold-medal power lifter, and I
knew about overcoming
obstacles and going for your dreams.
I spent over an hour
talking to Matthew.
Never once did he complain or ask, "Why me?" He
spoke about winning
and succeeding and going for his dreams.
Obviously, he knew
what he was talking about. He didn't mention that
his classmates
had made fun of him because he was different; he
just talked about
his hopes for the future, and how one day he
wanted to lift weights
with me.
When we finished
talking, I went into
my briefcase and pulled out the first gold
medal I won for power
lifting and put it around his neck. I told him
he was more of a
winner and knew more about success and overcoming
obstacles than I
ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took
it off
and handed it back to me. He said, "Rick, you are a
champion. You earned
that medal. Someday, when I get to the Olympics
and win my gold medal,
I will show it to you."
Last summer I received a
letter from Matthew's
parents telling me that Matthew had passed
away. They wanted
me to have a letter he had written to me a few
days before.
Dear Rick,
My mom said I should send you a thank-you letter
for the neat picture
you sent me. I also wanted to let you know that the
doctors tell me I
don't have long to live anymore. It is getting very
hard for me to breathe
and I get tired very easy, but I still smile as
much as I can. I
know that I will never be as strong as you and I know
we will never get
to lift weights together.
I told you someday I was going to go to the
Olympics and win
a gold medal. I know now I will never get to do that.
But I know I am a
champion, and God knows that too. He knows I am not a
quitter, and when
I get to heaven, God will give me my gold medal, and
when you get there,
I will show it to you. Thanks for loving me.
Your friend,
Matthew
~ ~
By Rick Metzger
Note: Unlike
Matthew's parents, we were not told that our daughter was born with
any problems, nor
were they noticable until much later. Then, after numerous tests,
we were only told
that she had weak muscles and scoliosis. We were told that she would
probably live a near
normal life and life span. It was only the last three months or so
of her life
that her health deteriorated
fast. And two months after her 13th birthday she passed away. Since
Matthew's illness occurred a number of years later, it is believed that
Medical Science had advanced and become more adept in learning to detect
this at birth. Perhaps we were blessed in not knowing what lay ahead.
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