Attitude of Gratitude by Brian Burdick

I would like to share my feelings of love towards the nice, sleepy town of St Johns. In order to do this I need to go back in time about a year. Recently, Daniel asked us what we plan to do for his anniversary in October. Lynette and I were confused at his question, so we asked him what anniversary we were going to celebrate. He then explained that the anniversary he was talking about was when he ended up spending the entire night under the stars, trying not to freeze to death, and basically surviving what was a very difficult ordeal for him, his family, and many of the citizens of St. Johns.

Daniel and I had been doing some yard work outside. I could tell that he was quite agitated and suffering from a great deal of anxiety and depression. His medication for his anxiety and depression had been changed in order to find a medication that would be more effective in dealing with some panic attacks that he was having. (Eventually, it was determined that the new medication was increasing his anxiety and depression and causing them to become worse. Finally, Daniel's psychiatrist found the right medication to deal with his mental health problems.) Daniel told me that he needed to go for a walk to try and relieve some of his anxiety and depression. It was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, so I told him to go ahead. I expected he would be back soon. Several hours later, Daniel was still gone. Lynette came home from work, and I explained the situation to her. The farther the sun dropped on the horizon the more worried we became. Lynette called a few people in town asking if they had seen Daniel recently. Someone had seen him walking north on 24th W.

Later that evening, Lynette and I began driving around town looking for him. We went to several of the stores and businesses in town, and no one was able to give us any information regarding his whereabouts. Lynette was able to contact one of her friends who sent out a group text message informing people of the situation and asking if any of them had seen him. Because of this text, many people in town began helping us look for Daniel. Even after Lynette and I quit for the night, there were people who stayed out past midnight continuing to look for him. The next morning two sisters in our ward felt inspired to drive north on 24th W one more time. They found him walking barefoot down the road. His feet were great masses of blisters because he had been shoeless for most of the night. Later, Daniel explained that he lost his shoes walking through the muddy parts of the Little Colorado River. We were overcome with relief that Daniel was alive and would be okay.

Lynette and I were so impressed with our St. Johns’ friends and neighbors. We were so grateful so many were willing to leave their comfortable homes and offer assistance that night. We were also impressed and grateful when we found out how many people had been praying for Daniel and for us. Even though we were anxious about Daniel and his circumstances, those actions brought a spirit of peace that even allowed us to get some sleep that night.

After this ordeal with Daniel, Lynette and I felt like our trials had calmed down for a while. Little did we suspect that a greater trial was to come to our door a couple of months later. In November I found out that I had a deep vein thrombosis (blood clot), and doctors had started me on medication to try and break up the blood clot. Then, on January 1^st, we were sitting in our living room when Lynette told me that I looked yellow. The next day we went to the local clinic and from there we were sent to the emergency room in Show Low. After several hours of being in the ER, arrangements were made for me to be admitted to the Banner Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix.

After running several different tests and having a specialist perform a special endoscopy, we found out that there was a tumor wrapped around my bile duct, which was cutting off the flow of bile to my small intestine. This test took place on the 4th of January. After meeting with several doctors, it was agreed that I needed a pancreaticoduodenectomy, more commonly known as a Whipple. The surgery was performed on the 9^th of January. It is a very lengthy and extremely difficult surgery. It involved removing parts of my pancreas, stomach, bile duct, and about 15 inches of my small intestine, after which I was replumbed. The recovery time was quite lengthy. The doctors eventually were able to tell us that I was suffering from pancreatic cancer. When I was told this, I felt like someone had hit me over the head with a 2 x 4. This news was extremely stressful and difficult to hear. After three weeks in the hospital and one week at the home of our daughter, Sian, I was able to come home to St. Johns.

The next step was chemotherapy and radiation that began after I had adequately  recovered from the surgery. These treatments were to try and take care of any lingering cancer cells and would take 6 to 8 months to complete. I have finally completed (more or less) these treatments. Now the plan is to monitor for the cancer's possible return. Needless to say, it has been a very difficult year for our family.

So should we really be celebrating the anniversary of the beginning of this difficult year? Most definitely we should! While the year has been tough, our family has been awed by the amount of love and concern we have been shown and for the prayers that have been offered in our behalf. We are so grateful for the acts of service that people in St. Johns have given us. We have received many meals, loaves of bread, plates of cookies and other wonderful expressions of love. We have received assistance with our lawn and our garden and with other projects around our home. We have received many visits from people who have gone out of their way to encourage me while I have been recovering from the various medical treatments. Everywhere I go, people stop me and ask how they can help and then let me know that they are praying for me and my family. These acts of love and kindness have assisted me in those days when I am struggling with depression and with worry about the future. We are forever grateful for all of the service that has been rendered by so many loving hearts and hands to our family. I just want to tell everyone thank you. There are so many of you that I do not dare start naming names for fear I will leave someone out. Most importantly, I want to thank my loving Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ for allowing me to turn to them when times seem the darkest. I know that through the grace of Jesus Christ my life will continue after this earth life has ended and that my family can be a unit of eternity. This is the greatest act of love possible, and for that I will be eternally grateful.