Voices of the Past

Second Chances: A Real-Life Love Story from a Reader

(Last month on Valentines Day, I invited readers to share their own real-life love stories with me. Karen Martin had such a beautiful story that I decided to share it with you all.)

Today is our 31st Valentine’s Day together. Our story started in October of 1969, our junior year of high school... As a third period office assistant, I was charged with delivering a message to Mr. Schupp in the band room. In my normal fashion, I managed to trip on my own two feet and (fairly gently) smash into Jim Martin and his drum as I entered the room. This resulted in a date for Friday night’s football game. One date led to another and another. Senior Prom and graduation we celebrated together but by Thanksgiving of freshman year of college it was clear that Mr. Mensa Prankster Party-man and Miss Hearing Impaired Dyslexic Overachiever were not going to survive couplehood. 

Fast forward 25 years. Class Reunion. Gentle but certain reconnect. Over coffee and pie (after absenting ourselves from the reunion melee), we recognized a once in a lifetime second chance. Twenty-nine wonderful years later and another Valentine’s Day!

But our story wouldn’t be complete without this important side note: In 2013, I was diagnosed with end-stage hereditary NASH, a liver disease that killed both my maternal grandmother (at age 86) and my mother (at age 69.) I was reminded that there is no treatment or cure and told I could expect to live another three to five years. Although my husband and I knew God was in control, we understood the doctors had to voice their warnings. I retired from my teaching position at the end of my 40th year as a high school International Baccalaureate social sciences and law teacher in the spring of 2014 to (hopefully) avoid missing work because of illness, and Jim resigned from 17 years in his second career in national security to take care of me. He had previously retired after 22 years in the Navy as a commander on aircraft carriers. Although I did surpass my original medical team’s expectations, by mid-2018, this very ugly liver disease was taking its toll. But just as God provided us a second chance at love and family, after 11 hospitalizations in 15 months, He provided us a second chance at life with a liver transplant (during COVID).

And, just as God loved and supported me through every day and granted me the miracle of a donor and donor family, my sweet husband loved and supported me—he made me laugh every day, he cleaned up after every kind of sick you can imagine, he held me, he bathed me, he prayed with me, and he loved me. I ask for prayers for my donor and my donor family each time I tell my story, although I do not know who they are. 

Four years post-transplant, we just got home from a 40-day trip of 5,000 road miles, 2,000 air miles, 1,200 nautical miles, and 600 rail miles on the auto train. We visited our children and five grandchildren, including twin granddaughters delivered January 17 while we sailed the Caribbean on a National Geographic/Lindblad Photography Expedition. We visited four National Seacoast Parks. Jim plans several of these spectacular trips each year!! The love story continues….