Like so many other things in my life, this could have been another notch in my "flukey things" column... but I know better.
You know those friends who knows everyone there is to know... we all have them. They are fabulous to have and seem to have a way of keeping the world connected .They are like the original facebook. Anyway, I have one, and her name is Voni; in fact, you probably know her... or rather she knows you... it's just the way she rolls. Anyway, before I even made my way out here to California, she was already working her magic by pulling all types of strings to see if we could find me a job. After many had just not worked out for one reason or another, she contacted me one more time saying "I am not even sure if this is something you'd like to do but I have this friend...." and then continued to go on about the Boyds. It's funny looking back and seeing how it was that she asked me, as if it was one last dying hope. A shot in the dark. When in actuality, this is exactly the kind of thing I loved doing.
Chase Boyd was 18 years old when we met and about to start his freshman year of college at the University of Redlands. He was diagnosed with Duchannes Muscular Dystrophy at the age of 3 and after 15 years, could no longer had control over his hands, feet, arms, legs, neck, etc. Therefore, his family was hiring an aid that would assist him to class to take his notes, tests, and help him with homework. The Lord was so faithful in convincing his mom to extend me the job (even though I requested it be part time and shared with another aid so that I could start subbing and segue myself into the local school systems). To be honest, on that request alone I should have been labelled "high maintenance" and shown the door. But much to my delight, I was offered the job and started a week and a half later.
Although our time on campus was only Chase's second day of classes, he was already the star of the show. EVERYONE knew him. We walked along the side walks to the tune of "hi Chase!", as it was tossed out as us so frequently. In all honesty, in his electric wheelchair, he was hard to miss... and due to his smile and personality, impossible to forget. His mom would check in on him by asking me if he was being polite to other people and making eye contact (like all mothers do) and I was always quick to suffocate her fears. For every time someone said hey to Chase in passing, he would turn his wheelchair around to see who it was and then offer a greeting followed by questions of classes and well doings. He was as much a gentlemen as I am Cassi. In class he always spoke up, made an effort to get to know his classmate, and worked incredibly hard. I mean, Chase even did the supplemental reading... ALL of it. I can't even say I did one supplemental or suggested reading in school. If it didn't say "required," it wasn't for me. But not Chase. He always went the extra mile. In fact, this is us going to class on Halloween. His Freshmen Seminar class had just been discussing the inappropriateness of Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke's behavior and so naturally, we ran with the irony and dressed up as them. We won the prize but I know the teacher had a hard time handing over the money out of pure disgust. It was genius. Chase was SUCH a sport. He loved it. He went all in!
But when I came home from break, I saw on facebook that he was in the hospital. I texted his mom and she informed me that he was not doing good at all. He went into the hospital and the doctors pumped 6 liters of fluid out of his body. They also said that his heart was insanely weak and they were floored tha the was still alive. He had progressed much further along in the disease than he was leading us to believe.
I couldn't believe it. I had just been with him 10 days earlier taking exams. Which he annhilated I might add. He got a 396/400 on his Religion exam! I mean Chase was a champ. But finally on January 2, he went home to be with the Lord.
Because it was Christmas break and all of his friend were home from school, they had his memorial 2 days later. Over 1000 people attended his memorial and then another 1200 streamed it online! I was devastated to miss it but so proud to have known someone who made such a difference in numerous peoples lives.
They had a service at the U of R in his honor a few days after Zach and I returned to California. It was a beautiful service in so many ways but I think my favorite was listening to Chase's dad talk about Chase, his little boy, and seeing the impact it had on Zach. Zach had yet to meet Chase but came along to support me. However, the moment we walked out of the service Zach said "I just need to apologize. I didn't comfort you the way I should have but mostly it was because I was trying to keep it together myself." In just storytelling, Chase's testimony of life had impacted Zach.
A month has passed now and I still think about him everyday. I praise the Lord that he is no longer in pain and that the effects of my "flukily" meeting him will be eternal. In thinking about that picture above, I think going "all in"was Chase in a nutshell. He didn't have to go to college but he wanted to because he wanted to live his life to the fullest. He wanted to taste all that it had to offer. On our study breaks during homework time, we would surf youtube just like anyone else his age... trying to top each others videos. One time he pulled up a video he and his buddies made in high school for a school project. Every Thursday, we would do our "pro football pick'em" picks and he ended up finishing the league in first place! Bounded by a wheelchair he never let that stop him mentally. He was brave, strong, independent, knowledge hungry, courteous, thoughtful, intentional, caring, outgoing, and hard working. In just thoughts of him and replays of conversations that we had, he is still challenging me to be a better person today.
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