15. Looking ahead

The third and fourth chemo that followed taxed all mum’s strength. Her body had no reserves to cope with the side effects. At night mum’s lips would get so dry that they would stick; when trying to open them they bled. After the fifth chemo her teeth started cracking.

My parents moved to Joseph’s home in Zagreb. His wife Biljana was a nurse and an ideal person to help mum in the situation. With all the support and love mum started giving up. She begged us all not to pressurise her to go through the last, sixth chemo for she had no stamina to live through it.

Throughout mum’s illness we looked for natural remedies to supplement the therapy. Ana made a special effort to obtain the oils, plants, made drinks, and substances that boosted mum’s immune system and revitalised her body.

Slowly mum started recovering. She was regaining her strength and weight and her hair started growing. With the signs of recovery her optimism and desire not to give up grew. Warm weather and seeing trees in bloom, plants and flowers growing kept mum more and more outside.

During the summer my family visited mum and dad. We had great time together and at times we would completely forget that mum was sick. Our girls Miriam and Natasha wanted to show their love and support the grandparents. They prepared a short music concert singing their favourite Christian songs and playing on recorders. That brought life into the grandparents’ home and delight into their hearts. They especially appreciated us all being joined in prayer.

At the end of that summer my family moved from Northern Ireland to Germany. This gave mum something special to look forward to. For 15 years of my married life mum was never our guest. That was mainly due to her health, which restricted her from travel. She couldn’t fly, and travelling by car would make her very sick. Moving to Germany meant that she could travel by bus. We made the plans for mum and dad to come for Christmas. The girls wanted granny to promise them to do her best to gain the strength and be their guest.

It was such a blessing, such a treat to have the grandparents over for Christmas. The festive season was thoroughly enjoyed in our new home in Kornwestheim near Stuttgart. We were all able to count our blessings and there were many.

Very soon mum and dad got to know some of our friends and became a part of our new church community, four ethnic, ex-Yugoslavian, churches that Branislav pastored in the Stuttgart district. Although not church goers, they were happy to join us for the church services and church social meetings. At the New Year’s Party they wholeheartedly joined in praising God for the past year and enjoying the party food and atmosphere. For all of us it was a wonderful way to begin the New Year.

16. Unforgetable events

Very little did we know what kind of year 2001 would be: a year to remember. The whole world was shocked with bizarre events that were taking place: natural disasters, accidents, terrorist attacks, and especially 11 September attack.

For my family it was a year of turmoil too. Branislav’s oldest brother and his wife, to our great surprise and disappointment, got divorced in April that year. They walked out on 28 years of what seemed to be a happy and stable marriage between two well-respected people. This was a family tragedy indeed; another one followed.

The event of 26 June swept me from my feet. I was at women’s retreat when I got news that Joseph had a parachute accident. My husband couldn’t give me all the details except that Joseph was still alive and fighting for his life. It was agony time for the whole family; we were all wrapt up in our thoughts and fear.

Joseph was an experienced parachute jumper. This was one of his special police training exercises. There were three of them to jump; Joseph was the second, his parachute opened. But the third person with his opened parachute landed on Joseph’s. They got tangled up in Joseph’s parachute. When they got untangled, it was too late to activate Joseph’s reserve parachute 30 meters before hitting the tarmac of the local army airport.

Joseph recalls his short prayer to God: “For the sake of my three children spare my life.” At those split seconds he knew that the way he fell would be crucial. So, he fell on his left arm. Joseph’s hit was brutal. At 190 cm height and 90 kg of weight in full army gear, the weight and speed of falling on hard surface resulted in smashing his left arm bones, breaking his pelvic floor bones, couple of ribs breaking and piercing his lungs, internal bleeding and all organs shattered. It was a miracle he survived at all. He reached out for his mobile phone and called the parents, “I’ve just had an accident, but I’m still alive.” He was taken to the trauma and intensive care unit in Zadar, where the accident happened.

Joseph was in isolation for two weeks where the doctors tried to stabilise his situation. We were aware that his life was hanging on a thread. That thread was God’s mercy that he believed in. Joseph had his mobile with him and kept in touch with the family. He would call me just to say a short prayer with him. Prayer gave him strength, confidence and hope that the almighty God was with him. I realised as never before the power of the prayer. Because it’s so accessible, and so simple people underestimate this mighty tool God has given to a man. All our friends worldwide and church communities who knew us and those who learned about Joseph’s accident, continually brought his name before the merciful throne of God. Joseph was not alone in that intensive care room; His Life Giver was there with him.