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Margaret Gourley has been a very special friend of ours for
the last 30 years or so. Margaret has "Locked-In
Syndrome" and we have never known her in any other
way. She can neither talk nor move any part of her
body with the exception of her eyes and a small amount of
neck movement.
But she can use her amazing facial expressions to
communicate in a way that is impossible to describe.
She looks on every experience of life with joy and enthusiasm
that makes us all ponder the wonder of life.
She "talks" to us using eye blinks to spell out
words using a coded system. She is the epitome of the
old axiom "If life hands you Lemons, Make Lemonade".
She is fearless and will try anything. Over the years,
she has visited our garden many times, gone flying in the
clouds in our little plane, landed on the water, gone
boating, been to the theatre and many times done downhill
"skiing" (on a toboggan towed by the ski patrol)
at the Oshawa Ski Club -- you name it, her vast army of
dedicated friends and her enthusiasm to "try
anything" has brought joy to many lives.
Margaret and her attitude of "It's a wonderful
life" has been an inspiration and made many of us stop
and realize just how lucky we are to have a friend like her.
On July 8, 2009, Margaret visited our garden once again,
but this time we had a surprise for her. As it is very
difficult to move her wheel chair around our sloping garden,
especially after three weeks of rain, we devised a platform
to mount on the front bucket of our diesel tractor.
Strapped down securely, she road high above the garden as we
drove her around, the leaves of the trees brushing her
laughing face and giving her an experience she has never had
in the last three decades.
Afterwards, snacks, ice cream and strawberries finished
off the afternoon before she returned to her special place
in the Bowmanville hospital, smiling and laughing all the
way.
We have future plans to take her boating on Rice
Lake. Now if we could just find somebody that could
take her sky-diving...
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