Hospital's help to dying man prompts flood of messages
EDITOR'S NOTE: Globe reporter Joseph P. Kahn was swamped with notes from people reacting to his story on Patrick Conway, a dying homeless man taken in by a hospital. Conway entered hospice care Wednesday afternoon. Here are a few of the messages:
A FOLLOW UP?: "I am saddened that your city will lose a very wonderful human being. ... I hope the people of Boston understand the homeless better. ... It can happen to anyone. To have suffered that tragic a loss, it is a miracle he did not take his own life much earlier. ... I hope you do a follow up when this gentleman passes on. ... I hope he ends up next to his wife and daughter for a final resting place."
Dan Riesenbeck
St. Louis
MY BROTHER, TOO: "The timing of the story was serendipitous since last week my homeless, brilliant, long-estranged, diabetic, mentally ill, brother, was essentially "dumped" after spending 4½ months in the psychiatric unit of a Long Island, New York, hospital. He is now receiving appropriate care at another hospital. I have suggested that the head psychiatrist at the original hospital should share your story with his staff.''
Timra Freedman
Swampscott
PRAYING: "I wish I could do something for him, but the best I can do is pray for him while he is still with us and after that. Thank you for a well done job."
Paula Rigby
Burlington
NOT BRITNEY: "Way too much time is spent in our current culture reading about, discussing with others, and obsessing over people like Britney Spears and O.J. Simpson and the drama that surrounds them. If only we could take notice of the real-life drama that surrounds us ... and take from it an understanding of the challenges that so many people face whether homeless, sick, lonely, abusing, or abused. To read your story about a man who has struggled with all of these things is one that should be essential reading for anyone who has lost touch with reality.
"If there were ever a reason to be embarrassed as an American, it is for me to walk to work every day through Copley Square and begin my morning with the homeless family of four, who are waking on the front steps of the Boston Public Library beneath a dozen beautiful "Stars and Stripes" flapping in the breeze.
"I hope Conway finds peace and comfort knowing his story will change someone's day for the better. I know it has changed mine.''
Andrew Bartlett
Boston
TRUTH: "I was struck by the truth of his situation, because some years ago I was commissioned by a producer for NPR to interview homeless people in Boston, which I did on several weekends in the late autumn in 1992 or '93. ... Every person who agreed to be interviewed had a story similar to Mr. Conway's. Each had suffered an emotionally traumatic time, usually centering on the death of family, which had plunged the individual, formerly capable and up-standing, into an abyss of sorrow and mourning which seemed to allow only for a life lived in the odd monastery of the streets. And this was part of what struck me: that there was a spiritual component to the lives of these folks. Each, often in very subtle ways, seemed to be engaged in a practice of grieving and contrition and suffering which necessitated poverty, simplicity, danger, atonement, denial of comfort, etc. Often these were not schizophrenics off their meds, but people who were once capable and strong who had been brought to their knees. This has interesting implications for treatment of the homeless, in some ways, as it means that some of the people on the streets really are there by choice. This doesn't (in my mind) change our obligations to that subset, but perhaps it changes our approach, or should.''
Daniel Robb
Pelham
CHANGING STEREOTYPES: "It is wonderful that people will have an opportunity, through your article, to see beyond the stereotype of people who are homeless and living on the streets, to the human being inside. My heart goes out to this man and I thank him, too, for sharing some of his life with me. Please let him know I will include him in my prayers. His life has now graced mine.''
Christine Spaulding, M.Ed, RN, LADC
Gilmanton, N.H.
A LESSON: "After digesting the heart of this story, I had to think, 'What a beautiful life lesson that this man can bring to us!' Thank you for illustrating the beauty and inner peace that this man has! We take street people for granted as just a nuisance and a burden, and not the fact that these people have a life, and a past history behind them! Thank you for opening my eyes!''
Ron Correia
Auburn, N.H.
JOAN OF ART: "Reading your piece on Conway some songs of Joan Baez kept kept creeping into my thoughts. 'There but for fortune,' 'I am a poor wayfaring stranger' and 'Joe Hill.'
M.P.R. Howard
A former Bostonian, now living in San Francisco.
SENDING A MESSAGE: "I have sent it to a number of people here at work to show no matter what one's problems are, there are always people off worse. ... I cannot stop thinking of this. ... Is there a way one can send him a card/other things to the hospice? I would be grateful for any help you can give.
Sarah Curtis
Boston
(Readers may send cards or letters to Patrick Conway care of Brookline Health Care Center, 99 Park St., Brookline, Mass. 02146) 