Sharing Hannah

This post is #60 in a year-long series ... Through this series of posts I plan to share our family's experiences during our 17-year-old daughter's year-long battle with brain cancer, which began in February of 2008. My desire is to process through the events of that year from the perspective that a decade of time has brought ... for myself, really. But if you'd like to follow along, you're welcome to join me.

One thing I didn't mention in my "Ten Things About Hannah" post yesterday was that Hannah was a very private person. In fact, as we were walking to the car right after being told she had a brain tumor, she said that she didn't want anyone to know, and she wanted me to promise her that we wouldn't tell anybody. Of course, I did not make that promise, because we wanted people to be praying for her! Once we explained that to her, she understood, and she was fine with me sending the emails which chronicled her journey. However, she did not want to have a CaringBridge site, and she did not want me to write a blog while she was sick. She always shunned the spotlight, even before she was diagnosed ... always content to remain in the background.

So it's always been a little strange to me that her story captured so much attention during the year she was sick, and that it still does today. I started this blog about four months after she went to Heaven, confident that she would no longer mind me writing about her and would, in fact, welcome it. And we've had the privilege of sharing her story dozens of times in churches and through the bereaved parents retreats we host through the While We're Waiting ministry.

You know ... when Hannah was here on earth with us, Brad and I thought of her as "our daughter."  She "belonged" to us. Now, it's as if we are literally "sharing" her with the thousands of other people who have been touched by her story.  Does that make sense?

And I can't help but think of our dear friends, Larry and Janice Brown. Their son, Adam, was a member of SEAL Team Six, and was killed in Afghanistan in March of 2010. A New York Times best-selling book has been written about his life, ("Fearless"), and a movie is in the works.  The book reveals both the highlights and the very low points of Adam's life. Talk about "sharing" your child ... they are "sharing" their Adam with literally millions of other people.

I think I can speak for the Browns as well as for ourselves when I say that we don't mind "sharing" our children. What better way to remember and to honor their lives than to allow others to see how God carried them through their respective journeys?  To God be the glory.