Johann Quisumbing

By JQuisumbing

Life can seem like that everything that happened was from the luck of the draw or the casting of the dice. The dice rolled, I ended up being handicapped but at least, I could still walk. Somehow, I got it in my head that that was the worst that could ever happen to me. It rolled again and I went from walking to being mostly bedridden. Talking about bad luck. Or was it? Luck, whether bad or good, is not a term that I choose to use these days especially in light of what I have learned (and still continue to learn) in Scripture. What is that term/word? Well, Jesus cited it in the beginning verses of His Sermon on the Mount¹. He said, “Blessed…”. Do you recall in my Part 1 when I said the following?

…who in their right mind would not want to be healed of being handicapped for six decades? Who would not want to suddenly shed their inescapable bond to a wheelchair for healthy working legs? It does not make sense, UNLESS…

Well, allow me to complete that statement: 

It does not make sense, UNLESS I already knew that regardless of what happened back then or to what may still happen to me in the future, I am already BLESSED. And I would not want to change my situation if it meant I can still serve Him.

How? You judge for yourself whether it was luck or the Lord God.

1958 – I was at death’s door. The doctors said that my lungs were filling with liquid leaving only less than a third of one lung free but slowly filling. To keep me alive, a surgeon performed a tracheostomy (a trachea, for short) on me, then a tube was inserted through a hole in my throat into the windpipe. It was through this trachea that a nurse would slowly and carefully insert another tube to suction out the liquid out of my lungs. Now, during this most crucial time, my Dad made sure I was in the hands of two wonderful nurses who were experts in the procedure. Of course, I have no memory of this, since I was just a baby. However, I used to have a recurring dream that I was a milkshake with a green striped straw sticking out of me and someone sucking the drink out of me. Hahaha!

Now, I am sure that most already know about the story of David and Goliath. Well, like the nation of Israel being threatened by Goliath and the Philistines, my life was placed in jeopardy by the hospital’s Mother-Superior-in-charge of Nurses. Apparently, she felt that the two nurses were being given preferential treatment and she wanted no jealousy among the nursing staff. She took it upon herself to replace the two experienced nurses for another nurse with even less experience. Enter my Dad, the God-sent David of this story. He found an unknown nurse hovering over me, lacking supervision, unsure if she was doing it right. According to my uncle, my Dad confronted the nun who refused to bring back the original nurses based on principle. So, my Dad took out his sling and let the stonefly. Actually, he wielded his government position as Chief State Prosecutor and made such a ruckus that the head of the hospital intervened and the two expert nurses were back to take care of me. Two weeks later, I was out of danger. But another giant would loom over my frail body again. And I am not referring to the nun.  

Though I was not anymore in immediate danger, my lungs, however, were severely compromised. The doctors said that I needed an iron lung. 

An iron lung is a type of negative pressure ventilator (NPV), a mechanical respirator which encloses most of a person’s body, and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space, to stimulate breathing. It assists breathing when muscle control is lost, or the work of breathing exceeds the person’s ability.  [wikipedia.com]

My Dad again faced a big problem. The hospital I was in only had one working iron lung and it was already occupied. He called every other hospital in Manila and none were available. Because time was a factor, he used his official position and reached out to the Americans. He told me that as he desperately waited for word, he would go to the chapel and pray like he had never done before. Do you know what? The Lord answered big time. Two iron lungs were loaned to us by the US Air Force at Clark Air Base and by the US Navy at Subic.  But there was still a problem. Both iron lungs were built for adults, not for an infant-size body like mine. 

Then, from out of the blue, enter an American Pediatrician experienced with polio-stricken kids visiting the hospital I was in. His name was Dr. Bud Hebert. It was he that figured out how to configure the iron lung from crushing my infant lungs. Imagine my one year old body inside an iron tube 7 feet long with my tiny head sticking out of one end. After a week or so, I was out of the iron lung breathing on my own. Many years later, when my family visited “Uncle Bud” (as we called him) at his ranch in California, he was astounded that I was able to hold my breath so long as I swam underwater from one end of his pool to the other. He once said that he was at my hospital by chance. These days, I can honestly say that it was not luck that brought him. 

Growing up after that was one blessing after another (even when I was not deserving of it). In my mind’s eye, I could recognize His hand tweaking here and there making sure that I went down the path He had chosen for me to follow. That path, in hindsight, was always meant to be a quite difficult road; unpaved, pockmarked, strewn with challenging obstacles and yes, including snares & traps. And I was meant to walk it… oops, since I use a wheelchair these days… I am meant to roll my way through. 

Do you remember that my grandmother said that ‘God has a plan for me’? Well, believe it or not, the Lord had been revealing a little bit of His plan to me though at those times I was not aware of it. They were little prophetical windows designed I believe to prepare me.  

When I was still in community college, I was on a bus on my way home. Then I saw this middle aged somewhat heavy woman, by herself, going backwards on her wheelchair. She was using her pudgy legs (with clearly visible varicose veins) to push herself backwards. Instead of considering the humor of the scene, I saw myself in her shoes. In the back of my mind, I somehow knew assuredly that I would end-up in a wheelchair. So, I studied her movements and techniques until the bus drove farther away. Of course, I forgot about it until 2010 when my legs were so weak that I could not stand anymore and was limited to rolling around in my apartment on an office chair with casters; going backwards, by the way.

Even my wife was pre-selected. My Dad and brothers used to kid me a lot about marrying a doctor to take care of me especially in my old age. Frankly, I didn’t care too much about that idea, mainly because I spent many many years with medical professionals. Then, I met Mavis in January 1986 at the airport. We were both waiting at Arrival for friends and relatives. I met her when her mother was arguing with the guard to let her use the… ahem… the facilities. I gallantly stepped in and convinced the guard with my finesse English speaking voice. As my future mother-in-law went in to do her thing, Mavis and I started a conversation. We were so focused with each other that we completely forgot about the people we were there to pick up. According to them, they were wandering around the Arrival area for about an hour until they spotted us. Six months later, we became Mr. and Dra. Quisumbing. Jump to 2015. Like a prophecy coming true, Mavis, with her medical knowledge, was instrumental in keeping me alive and believe me, after the operation , during the recovery period, there were a couple of closed calls. But my best blessing of her was when I woke up from an operation, the first voice I heard was hers giving instructions to a nurse. I give thanks to the Lord for her. 

Now, I was hoping that this Part 5 was going to be the finale for this series, but there is more to tell on the goodness of the Lord. Please keep your eyes open for my next posting where I will tackle…

Why am I still paralyzed?

TO BE CONTINUED

Click to go to PART 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Footnotes: [1] Matthew 5:1-11; [2] Ephesians 1:11,12