Don't give up
The Rick Gration story
By Barb Rees
Thirty years ago, Rick Gration moved to Powell River. He was working at the five and dime store when he met the woman he calls his "million dollar baby" and so began the love story. It was the start of a life that hoped for all things and believed in all things.
For many years, life was wonderful. The Grations were surrounded by a big, loving family and later they had two children of their own.
Life continued to be good until 2006. Six months after Rick started a new job unloading trucks for Wal-Mart, he felt a tic in his arm. He put it down to muscle strain and carried on. But the tic didn't go away and within two months his whole left arm was wrenched with painful seizures. He ended up in the hospital's emergency department and then went to Courtenay for a CAT Scan.
On November 17, Rick learned the results of the CAT Scan. It was devastating. A mass was growing in his brain. Two months later an MRI showed the mass had grown to the size of a golf ball.
On a Wednesday, Rick saw the doctor, who cancelled all his appointments. Two days later on Friday, December 8, 2006, doctors operated on Rick.
It was a terrible time for Rick and his family. On November 14 of that year, Rick lost his uncle. On December 20, his father died.
When Rick came out of surgery in early December, the prognosis was bleak. He was given six to eight months to live. If he did live, he was told he would never walk again.
Rick came home with his left side paralyzed but his faith still intact. He was determined to outlive the doctor's prediction, determined to outlive his "expiry date."
Six months later, Rick was still in a wheelchair. He was offered a job as a greeter by the Wal-Mart manager. He accepted. Wal-Mart employees raised money to cover the expenses Rick incurred during seven weeks of treatments in Vancouver. The company matched the funds.
Through pain and fear, he never gave up. His sister-in-law Lisa calls him her light. He taught her that the little things don't matter but family does. A deeply religious man, he credits his survival to God and his miracles and Jesus' healing. That healing, says Rick, continues today.
"I've outlived my expiry date," he says with a grin.
A year ago, his daughter Kerrin got engaged to Tim Fraser. Rick had no intention of wheeling her up the aisle; he wanted to walk her up the aisle and so he began working towards that goal.
On Boxing Day 2009, I was standing in the Wal-Mart line up looking over to where Rick would normally be sitting in his wheelchair by the front entrance waiting to greet people as they entered the store. Something was not right. I looked again. The chair was empty. I looked again and there he was... standing. My eyes filled with tears as I rushed over and threw my arms around him, "You've given me the best Christmas present seeing you standing there," I said.
He grinned, "Do you want to see me walk?" I choked up as I watched his faltering shuffle.
On May 15, of this year, a miracle unfolded at the Saltery Bay picnic site. Under sunny skies, with the sound of the waves sweeping the shore, a crowd of family and friends waited breathlessly for the big moment. They knew there was more than a wedding taking place. The limo arrived, and the beautiful bride met her dad at the aisle. Slowly Kerrin and her hero, her dad, made their way to the front where Rick handed his daughter over to Tim. The minister spoke of the exchanging of the rings as a circle with no beginning and no end.
Like his daughter's wedding vows, Rick's love, faith and hope never ended.
