I went to Granville with Maria this morning to visit Christy, a Mansion resident now fighting to get home to the Mansion from many hospital visits and from a Granville, N.Y., nursing home called Indian River. It was very different from the atmosphere at the Mansion, I didn’t see any smiles or hugs.

Christy is at a difficult crossroads. When I came into the room, she showed me the stuffed animal “Red, he is” named after Red,  who has visited Christy many times and her new baby doll.

Christy told me that she had lost consciousness four times in recent days and been rushed to the hospital each time, and no one has any idea what is happening to her or why.

Christy has given me permission to talk about her health, but I just don’t have the heart, or really the right, to repeat all of the health issues she is struggling with, several very serious.  “I don’t think I’m going to get back to the Mansion,” she said, “I’ve got to accept it.”

She believes she had a mini-stroke recently.

She has asked to be transferred to a nursing home closer to her family about an hour away.

This nursing home business is rough stuff for the Mansion residents, they all dread going to a nursing home, they all fight and work hard to stay mobile and self-sufficient so they can stay. Some are always fighting the block and their own bodies.

When I came, Christy was sitting up and in the process of writing letters back to the many good people who have been writing to her, her bed was filled with letters and with gifts – a baby doll for her collection, the stuffed animal Red, some books. She has to sit and sleep with a breathing monitor and mask.

Somebody also thoughtfully sent her some stamps, and at least a dozen letters had already been written and stamped and were ready to be sent out. (Christy will be at Indian River for a week or so,  you can write her c/o Indian River Rehabilitation Center, 17 Madison St., Granville,N.Y., 12832).

I want to stay in touch with Christy, but I can’t really offer much help or be of much help  to her now other than to stay in contact with her. She and I e-mail and message one another faithfully, and I will stay connected to her in that way.

I’ve got to stay focused on the other work I am doing, both at the Mansion and in Albany. And I’ve got to stay bounded.

I gave her a hug when I left and told her to ask me for help if she needed it, and if I could help, I always would. She was happy to see Maria, she had not met her until today.

Christy has been on a very powerful journey and I am touched she has shared it with me, and has also wanted me to share it with  you. Living at the edge of life is always a challenge, every minute of every day. It is unpredictable, often sad and painful. Our culture is forever claiming to love and care for the elderly, but forever forgetting about them and failing to help them to live fully and in comfort and safety.

Sometimes I think they are drowning in too much technology and medicine, too many surgeries and procedures, many too thoughtlessly and reflexively practiced. They can get as many pills and ambulance rides as anyone could want, no chance to consider the quality of their life, let alone have a say in it.

The Mansion residents are brave and determined, but I know life is never simple or easy for them, and Christy’s story is familiar to every one of them. It could be any one of them, any day.

Yet they inspire me, they live their lives and care for one another and look for the light wherever they can find it. They don’t quit on life, even when it sometimes seem that life has quit on them.

I will be thinking of Christy and am so grateful to the good angels who have been encouraging her and cheering her on. You have made a very difficult time to much lighter, you have given Christy something to smile about every single day, and that is no small gift.

I am happy to shine something of a light on this world, and will keep at it.