A Short Story and A Sweet Painting

Tonight I painted. Tonight I helped a cause. Tonight was awesome.

Let me begin with a little story.....

Several years ago a man named Lance Lewis was diagnosed with a disease that affected his lungs. He was placed on the organ donation list. I learned about Lance through a girlfriend at work. Lance is her father-in-law. She often spoke of his condition, his current physical state and his struggles to get through daily life.

One year ago Lance received the call that he had been waiting ten years to get. It was his doctor and he informed Lance that they had a pair of lungs ready for him. The family gathered together quickly and met Lance at the hospital. It all happened so fast. He was taken back into surgery where a miracle was performed. My girlfriend and her family sat anxiously in the waiting room of the hospital waiting to hear updates of Lance's surgery. While waiting a television played in the background with the local news reporting on the death of Officer David Moore. Office Moore was on duty with the Indianapolis Metro Police department when he was shot. Officer Moore's life was ended from the wounds he sustained. The newscasters were reporting that Officer Moore was an organ donor and his organs had been harvested and were on their way to their recipients.

It was then that the family started to wonder if Lance was receiving the officer's lungs. Their curiosity was confirmed a few months later when Lance received a letter from Officer Moore's parents. They felt the need to reach out to the recipients of their son's organs. The two families met and a beautiful friendship began.

Today Lance is doing phenomenal. His lungs are performing better than anyone imagined and he's doing things that he never thought he'd be able to do again. He's now able to live the life that he always wanted to live but just wasn't physically able to do.

Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting Lance for the first time. I attended a fundraising event that benefited the Fraternal Order of Police. The fundraiser was to help raise money to send Lance and his wife to Washington D.C. where Officer Moore's heroism will be honored. Tonight's event was put on by a local company called "Wine and Canvas". Simply stated, we drank wine and painted a picture.



Never in my life have I painted on canvas. I was extremely nervous and after our first stroke of our paintbrush the instructor announced "If that made you nervous then you better start drinking." Laughter and chugs followed. I must say that painting this picture was one of the most enjoyable things that I have done in a long time.



Not only was a I helping a friend's family but I stepped out of my comfort zone which I don't often do. Yes, the wine helped but sitting there painting was fun, relaxing and very enjoyable. I can honestly say that I like my painting and it might actually get hung inside our house as opposed to the garage. Which was were it was going to go if I found that I wasn't as artistic as I believed I was.