This message was posted to one of my mailing lists. Can anyone here offer some advice to my colleague?
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Through some [professional connections], I have become friends with some of the sisters at the Carmelite monastery in Indianapolis. (Some of you may have seen the Today Show feature on them a couple of months ago. They also have a Web
site, http://www.praythenews.com , which is quite an undertaking for a group of mostly elderly sisters.)
I just learned that one of the sisters has suffered a massive stroke and has not regained consciousness. Unfortunately, she is far from home; she was traveling in Ireland at the time and is now in the Limerick Regional Hospital. The sisters are trying to find a way to send a nurse (a former Carmelite) to Ireland to assess the situation. They are also hoping to find some way to bring the ill sister home to the monastery. Obviously, however, they are not well connected with the outside world, and they are
feeling helpless and worried.
Are there any Irish [list members] (or others) who might have some advice to give, or who might be able to help with connections and the like? I’m feeling helpless, too, and I would love to be able to give my friends a sense of increased hope and reassurance.
Thanks for any suggestions.
:: bump :: (so the Irish Dopers can read it over breakfast)
Hate to do this on my first time posting to the boards, but I feel this deserves some attention…so forgive me in advance!
bump
I’m sure that the Roman Catholic chaplaincy team at the Regional Hospital in Limerick would be a good ‘contact’ for the Sisters, as regards providing them with some reassurance… The information can be found here…
http://www.limerickdiocese.org/administration/chaplain.htm
Whilst they’re rightfully upset about their ill sister, from personal experience, the Carmelites should be assured that the Irish nurses and medical staff will provide the best care and assistance possible.
Kerriensis
Most likely they’ll be flying into Shannon Airport since they’d be heading to Limerick but if they fly into Dublin I could help them getting to the train station etc. I don’t see what else I could do but if you can think of anything let me know and I’ll see if I can sort it out.
yoji101@yahoo.co.uk
Many thanks, everyone . . . I’ve sent my colleague a link to this thread. She’s also made some contact with people connected to embassies, so perhaps a solution is coming.
Wow. Thanks again!
A follow-up message from my colleague:
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Thanks to everyone for your warm and generous responses to my plea. The sisters were moved to tears by the information and expressions of support that I was able to send their way. Sadly, the stroke was more severe than the doctors initially thought. Sister Mary has now been declared brain dead and has been taken off all life support other than hydration, so she will not be coming back to her earthly home as some of us might have wished. The sisters, of course, believe that she will soon be headed for a much better home, and they are very happy for her.
I’m told that she entered the monastery in 1939.
Thanks again. What a wonderful community this is.
I’d like to echo that last line.
Another follow-up from my colleague:
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I have some amazing news to share with those of you who were such help when I posted about the elderly Carmelite sister from Indianapolis who had a massive stroke while traveling in Ireland. The last time I posted, the doctors had said she had no brain activity, and she had been taken off life support, other than light hydration, to allow her to die. A friend had flown to Ireland to help her on that journey, and preparations were made to have her cremated (her wish) in Ireland and have her remains brought back to the U.S.
Three weeks after the feeding was stopped, she was still with us. And suddenly she began moving, then opening her eyes, and then showing obvious awareness of what was going on around her–a total shock to everyone. The feeding was immediately resumed, and the Eli Lilly company, which has its headquarters in Indianapolis, subsequently sent their corporate jet to bring her home. She is now in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Indianapolis and, amazingly, has begun to say a few words.
I could say “So much for doctors’ ability to judge with any certainty whether someone is brain-dead.” But she is a nun, after all! Perhaps her God was not yet ready for her to leave this world. Whatever the reason for her stunning recovery, she is back with her fellow sisters and is described as being “in fighting form.”