Chapter 1: Lost Hope
Krista lived most of her early life with only her mom because her dad was almost always in prison. Her dad and mom were not married, but for some reason, Krista's mom always let him come back whenever he was released from prison.
When Krista was in early grade school, her mom decided to get her GED and then go to a community college to become a Licensed Practical Nurse. It was a hard time for them because her mom had to work full time as well as attend classes. But she finally received her LPN and was able to get a good job.
Krista's mom began to earn more money and they were able to do more fun things together. Krista began to change too. Several teachers took an interest in her and encouraged her in her studies. She began to do well in school, and she especially liked to study about animals and nature.
With her mom's encouragement, Krista began to dream about going to college and then medical school. She decided that she wanted to become a doctor, and several teachers told her that she had the ability to succeed.
During her seventh and eighth grade years, Krista was on the school honor roll.
Then everything changed in the summer before she went into the ninth grade. Her dad was released from prison, and again her mom let him come to their apartment to live. Several weeks later, her dad began molesting her while her mom was at work, but Krista was afraid to tell her. After school started, she had trouble studying, she was angry and sad all of the time, and her best friend at school didn't want to be around her any more.
Toward the end of the school year, a school counselor found out what was happening and told Krista's mom about it. Krista's mom was so angry at her dad that Krista thought she might kill him. Instead, Krista's mom told his parole officer, and her dad was sent back to prison.
But Krista felt dead inside. She stayed in high school for another year, but started doing crack cocaine and then meth. By the time she was 19, she had a baby girl, but since she couldn't care for her on her own, the State took the baby away. She earned her "living" and got her drugs with sex.
Krista thought about suicide a lot.
Aaron and his two older sisters grew up on a large family farm. Aaron enjoyed farm life, and everyone in the family assumed that he would work with his parents and eventually take the farm over when they retired.
The farm did well, and Aaron was able to pay for flying lessons while he was still in high school. By the time he was in college, he had built an airstrip on the farm and owned his own airplane. He thoroughly enjoyed aviation, though he did not want an aviation career. Nonetheless, he became active in volunteer search-and-rescue operations, flying his own plane.
Aaron also did well in school. After high school graduation, he had no difficulty getting into the agriculture program at the state university. When he finished his bachelor's degree, he wanted to complete a master's degree that would complement his work in the farm business.
But he needed a break from school and decided to enlist for a single tour of duty in the Army. His dad was a retired officer and had encouraged Aaron to join.
After his training as a medic, he was deployed to a war zone. The fighting was far more intense than he had anticipated. He was often close to enemy fire, and was frequently in extreme personal danger. Close to the end of his tour of duty, the troop carrier he was riding in hit a roadside bomb. Aaron lost his right leg and several fingers on his right hand. He also had a serious head injury from flying metal.
Following a long recovery, he was discharged and came home. Not only was he physically unable to work, but he also no longer had the mental skills to manage the farm business.
He could no longer certify as a pilot, and was forced to sell his plane. A master's degree in business was impossible, and his family clearly understood that Aaron would not be able to take over the farm after his parents retired.
Aaron was moody and often made angry comments to his parents. The climate in the home became tense. Aaron fully understood his personal loss, and often complained about his unfulfilled dreams of school and his loss of flying.
Aaron's dad began to change, too, as he felt responsible for having encouraged Aaron to join the military.
Sue was in her early 60s. She worked as a quality inspector in an electronics manufacturing plant. She was well liked, and she enjoyed her work.
Sue enjoyed the outdoors and hiked nearby mountain trails as often as she could. She also frequently did volunteer work. She had good health and anticipated an enjoyable retirement which would allow for day trips in the outdoors, volunteer work, and traveling. Even though she did not have a high salary, Sue had been careful with her money, invested wisely, and was planning on a comfortable retirement.
However, an hour into one Monday morning's shift, Sue's world completely changed. She had just placed a parts container on a stocking shelf when a forklift operator hit the back of the shelving unit. A package fell from the top shelf, hitting the back of Sue's head and glancing off her upper back. Though she fell and was briefly knocked unconscious, the injury did not seem to be serious. However, the forklift operator was eventually fired because his mandatory drug test had been positive.
Sue was given the week off with pay, but was cleared by her doctor to return to work the following week. When she returned to work, however, she still didn't feel completely well, but assumed that she would fully recover soon.
Two weeks later, however, she still did not feel well and it felt like an electric shock was going from her neck to her right hand. She immediately made a doctor's appointment and was referred to a neurologist. Surgery was eventually scheduled, but it did not help. Four months after the surgery she was forced to take an early retirement. In time, she developed extreme pain and was put under the care of a pain specialist. Many treatments were tried, yet the pain always grew worse.
Because the forklift driver had been using drugs, Sue was given full workmen's compensation benefits. Even so, she knew her money would soon be gone, so she talked to an attorney about initiating a lawsuit. Most of all, she felt like her life had been destroyed. She seldom left her house except for medical appointments. She could no longer drive, and the pain became so intense that she couldn't sleep.
Since she lived alone, her niece arranged for a visiting home nurse to help her. A year later, however, her condition was so bad that she was put in an assisted-care facility. Very soon, she was being given so much prescription pain medication that she slept many hours during the day.
Because of her chronic pain, her addiction to pain medications, the loss of her house, and all she had been looking forward to in her retirement, she became severely depressed and was then put on a high dose of antidepressants as well.
Sue no longer wanted to live. But she could not take an overdose of pills because the assisted-care facility controlled all of her medications.
Published in the Public Domain by www.nepdx.ore, 20010. This book may be republished without permission. Any one of thee texts may be used: the HTML texts by copying the VIEW SOURCE files, the PDF file, the LARGE PRINT PDF file, or the Microsoft Word files.