Joanne’s 65 Roses: A Lesson In Living

G’day. Isn’t it funny that some people you can know a lifetime and not think any more about them and others come into your life briefly but leave a huge legacy.

Joanne was like that. I got to know her at the clinic when her parents brought her and her 5 year old brother, Troy, in for grief counselling – not for Joanne but for mum and dad. I recall her as a bright eyed girl of about 8 who quickly won over the hearts of all the staff.  Joanne had a particularly debilitating form of that horrid lung disease, cystic fibrosis - and the prognosis was not good. So, as those of you who have had anything to do with CF will know, there was the constant surveillance, the fear of germs, the massaging, the coughing and frequent visits to hospital and the specialists. But Joanne had a joy in her step and in her soul that inspired all of us who had the privilege to know her. I say had that privilege because Joanne died a while back. But her school and friends have all been changed by her little life.

What impressed everyone was that death didn’t scare Joanne, even though it really scared her friends. So they asked their teacher lots of questions like "how can she get to heaven if she's buried under the ground?" "Will she be able to take all her barbies with her?".  "My grandma's going to hospital next week, does that mean she will die too?”. The teacher listened and they shared their grieving and that helped. Then they talked about why they admired Joanne and I think as parents there's much we can learn from their comments: 

* how much she enjoyed each day, she didn't fret over yesterday or worry about tomorrow;

* she never bore grudges;

* Joanne trusted people, poor though her health may have been, she was rich in her love;

* how she never got bogged down in nasty things about people, life was too short.

The kids decided that Joanne may be dead but her messages would live on in their hearts forever.

Funny how some people can be so scared about death that they live life so poorly and yet kids like Joanne can live so briefly yet leave everyone richer.

By the way, when Joanne was first diagnosed, apparently young Troy didn’t have a clue what Cystic Fibrosis was, so the parents in hushed and understandably muted tones explained. Troy was confused and apparently blurted out “why has she got 65 roses. I want 65 roses?!”

Not long after that very moving experience, I was in the ACT presenting certificates to ACT Citizens of the year and one of the recipients sang that very song by the Wolverines in honour of those suffering CF. It was simply called “65 Roses”.