Angels

When I was a child my Grandma Berbig told me a story. She was a young girl, and had been riding her bicycle through a hilly area. She was speeding down the hill and began to lose control. As she realized that she was headed for a dangerously steep drop-off, she stopped. Not by her own volition though. She hadn’t managed to regain control and stop herself. She just stopped. She told me that she always knew in her heart-of-hearts that it was an Angel that had stopped her. Her Guardian Angel, she said, decided that she had too much to do in her lifetime to allow her perish at that moment. That story coupled with some others, and my Catholic upbringing provided me, as a small child, with the idea that Angels are invisible to us, but if we could see them they would be beautiful, fair, curly haired cherubs. I thought when danger arose they would fly down from their perch in the clouds, super-hero style, and would sweep you up with their grace and save you from an imminent hazard. Like most things philosophical in nature and ideas dealing with God and His army of angels, my thoughts and concepts evolved, or at least changed, as I grew older. Many interpretations and probable misunderstandings later, I have come to a new theory about what angels are, and their task, as it relates to us. Perhaps some of them take on a human-like form with wings, and watch from afar. But others, I believe, are ever present, and while still invisible to the naked eye, are discernible to the trained eye. The word medical minds have assigned to this kind of angel is Neutrophil. Neutrophils, angels. Angels, neutrophils. They reside in our leukocytes (white blood cells), and dispel and attack foreign and unwelcomed guests that cause us harm. They do so without our knowledge or consent, and provide us with longer, healthier, and happier lives. As Dennis Prager says, “If suffering was water, the world would drown.” Without the ubiquitous nature of these angels, in that analogy, the world would have no land left. Neutrophils aren’t what saved grandma, as a girl, but do save us all from the metaphorical cliff ahead, each and every day. Other kinds of angels that I never recognized and appreciated enough are the donors who provide Amanda and those like her with new immune systems. Also to those who have devoted their lives to the noble cause of understanding, fighting, and curing disease. And last, but not least , to those of you who have generously donated your resources of time, energy, food, and yes, money, giving us comfort, nursing, prayers, help, and supporting Amanda and our family in general, you’re all our angels too. -Z Ps. I’ll work on my run on sentences in the future.