4 December 2007

Slums, Tumors, Cyclones, and the Incarnation of Christ

Last August, after getting our youngest child, Stewart, settled in as a freshman at Hendrix College in Arkansas, Les and I returned to Bangladesh as empty nesters. Immediately upon our arrival, we moved out of Dhaka's diplomatic enclave, where Stewart had attended the American International School, to the Mirpur area in the heart of Dhaka's swarming metropolis. It was a move calculated to save on rent and to put us in closer touch with a Church of Bangladesh (COB) congregation and St. Andrew’s Theological College, where I was to lead a class on Christian spirituality.

Moving into our Mirpur apartment.

It was more difficult than I had imagined to shift from the security and convenience of Dhaka’s diplomatic zone to an apartment embedded in a neighborhood of slums and a street aromatized by an open pile of garbage. Our new home is but two blocks from massive unmarked garment factories that serve as constant reminders of the tension that exists between local corporate greed and the struggle of the poor to survive.

Soon after making the move, however, I began introducing myself to our new neighbors—like Hajia, the widow who runs a tiny tea stall at the end of our road, and Dew, who sells eggs and soap in the small shop next to hers. And every time I stepped through the gate of our apartment building, a drove of children would rush up to me, eager to shake my hand. The nothing-to-lose hospitality of the poor repeatedly disarmed and humbled me.

In our sixth-floor apartment, which also houses our offices, we had almost finished unpacking our boxes when word came on Friday, September 14th, that Everett, our 21-year-old son, had MRI evidence of an invasive pelvic tumor. Within 36 hours we were on a plane back to the States, and within 96 hours, we were with Everett at his initial appointment at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Tests showed that Everett has Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that apparently started in his pelvic bone and invaded the surrounding soft tissues. By the time of diagnosis, the tumor had eroded his entire left pelvic bone to the point of causing a small fracture. The mass, about the size of a cantaloupe, had displaced his bladder and rectum to the right and extended down into his left upper thigh. Steadily increasing pain was keeping him awake at night.

Everett and Cindy enjoying donuts and coffee in Houston's Hermann Park before a clinic visit.

While we have been able to notify and update many of you regarding our current circumstances, we have not been able to contact everyone. I invite those whom we were not able to inform earlier to please go to our Web page noted at the end of this letter, where you can read the updates that Les has been posting since September. If you would like to receive copies of upcoming updates by email, please let us know.

Everett has now completed three cycles of chemotherapy, and there is clear evidence that he is responding well to treatment. Because of the location and size of the tumor, however, treatment is difficult and will require us to be in Houston for at least a year. While wanting to pray the silent prayer of absolute trust and surrender, my soul waxes restless within me—I want complete healing for my son, now. However, as we enter the season of Advent, I am reminded that as it took nine full months for Everett to form as a child within me, and each day was perfect in its timing, so too I must rest content to watch and wait for his healing in due time and season.

Cyclone Sidr hit the coast of Bangladesh on November 15, just as Everett was finishing his second 21-day cycle of chemotherapy. We have heard of the plight of the people of Bangladesh from COB Bishops Michael Baroi and Paul Sarker and from fellow missionaries who are assisting in the relief efforts. While the COB was spared major harm, four of its rural school buildings and the homes of many Christians living in the southern part of the country were damaged. The PC(USA) was quick to respond to the calamity, sending immediate funding to assist the COB and other churches in their efforts to help Christians as well as their Muslim and Hindu neighbors who were severely affected by the storm.

Although it was not easy to leave our work, friends, and belongings in Dhaka so abruptly to move into a small apartment in Houston, we are grateful that we can be with Everett as he receives treatment and that he is both tolerating and responding to chemotherapy. We are also profoundly grateful that the PC(USA) has recruited us to serve as consultants for its International Health Ministries Office while we are in the United States.

We are especially grateful to all of you who have written, called, visited, sent gifts, and prayed for our son and us. The essence of the body of Christ has never been as real to me as it has these past three months. Through your kindness, Christ has become flesh in our midst.

Gratefully,

Cynthia L. Morgan
Mission Co-worker, Bangladesh

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 115