Prayers for Bhaktin Chloe

[Guest guest]

Dear Devotees:

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

Bhaktin Chloe is a nineteen year old girl who's been through lots in life.

As her mother told me, Chloe has always been a special girl, making a

journey although not always making the most healthy choices.

 

Two months ago, she realized that this material world is a pretty nasty

place. She had seen her brother almost lose his life in an avalanche and

could see that death could come at any time. She'd better get more serious

in her journey and in her association with devotees.

 

Her devotee friends brought her here to Vancouver since we have a bhaktin

program here. She wasn't sure how long she'd stay and she was full of

questions and doubts. But she knew that if she was here with us, she'd

better participate fully in all the activities - if for no other reason than

that we were giving her a roof over her head and feeding her every day.

 

She's a happy girl and participated with enthusiasm. And we've been happy to

have her here.

 

On December 15th she went to visit her parents over Christmas. Six days

later we received a terrifying phone call: Bhaktin Chloe was in the hospital

and almost dead. A nineteen year old girl at death's door?

 

She had contracted meningitis. She was unable to breathe on her own, and was

put on a ventilator. Her kidneys failed, and she was started on dialysis.

Her blood pressure dropped drastically, so she was given a huge amount of

fluids in order to help stabilize it. This caused her to balloon up with the

fluids, so that she gained 30 pounds and was virtually unrecognizable even

to her own mother. She was given massive amounts of antibiotics to fight the

bacteria that were causing havoc in the lining around her brain and spinal

cord. Because her blood is fighting the infection in her brain, her

circulation to other parts of her body is not so strong, and three of her

toes are showing the effects: She may lose those toes.

 

On Saturday night, December 22nd, Bhaktin Samantha and I stayed up for the

entire night. We felt the imminence of her death and just couldn't bear to

be sleeping when Chloe faced the end of her life. We stayed up, studying on

the Internet to understand the disease Chloe was facing, we wrote emails to

our friends to let them know so that they too could pray for Chloe. And, of

course, we prayed and chanted. At 3 am, we began our japa for the day. We

didn't hold out much hope of Chloe remaining in her body. We simply prayed

to Krishna that he would please take care of her, that He would please

recognize that she had taken shelter of Him and His devotees at a time when

she understood the meaningless of this material world.

 

We phoned the hospital and asked her nurse to please relay our messages of

love to Chloe. We had been told that so many people, although unconscious

like Chloe, remember these prayers of love and hope, recalling them when

they're recovering. I asked Chloe's mother, Emily, to please tell Chloe that

I wanted her to return so that we could once again dance together at mangala

arati.

 

I phoned Chloe's mother later in the day after the night of our vigil. I was

afraid of what words she might have to say to me. And she'd never met me so

I didn't know how she'd react to this stranger - and a Hare Krishna!

 

When I told Emily who I was, she thanked me profusely for our prayers that

we were sending. She told me, "Whatever it is you all are doing, it's

working. Last night, Chloe was flatlining (no heart rate, no symptoms of

life). At 3 am, the doctors came to us and reported that they'd done all

they could do, and still Chloe was not responding." After some discusssion,

the doctors admitted that there were one or two small things that they could

still try. At that moment, Chloe, almost imperceptibly but still clearly,

made a change for the better. Nothing too dramatic, but her blood pressure

began to stabilize... Little changes that signified some hope.

 

So Emily begged us to continue our chanting and prayers for her daughter.

She had heard nice things about me from Chloe before she became ill, and

she'd met Bhaktin Samantha, so she had some confidence in us as Chloe's

friends and well-wishers.

 

Now, on Christmas day, Chloe still remains in very critical condition but

every hour that she survives is a major milestone. Her blood pressure is

better, so they've been able to ease off the fluids, leaving Chloe looking

lots more like herself. She still requires the ventilator, but there is some

movement of her eyelids and her hand. Her toes are looking worse but there

is still hope that they will recover. I hope she keeps them - it'll bring

her dancing days that much closer.

 

Emily requests that we continue our prayers for her recovery. I feel deeply

that if Chloe survives this experience, it will be life changing and I can't

wait to see what the future holds for her. Please add your prayers to ours

so that we may all see what wonderful plans Krishna has for our little

bhaktin.

 

Your servant,

Madhumati devi dasi