Many years ago, my dad was diagnosed with a terminal heart condition. He was put on permanent disability and was unable to work at a steady job. He would be fine for quite a while, but would then fall suddenly ill and have to be admitted to the hospital.
多年以前，我父亲被确诊为晚期心脏病。这是一种永久性的伤残，所以他不能去做一份正规稳定的工作。他本来应该会康复的，但那时突然又发了病，必须送进医院。
He wanted to do something to keep himself busy, so he decided to volunteer at the local children hospital. My dad loved kids. It was the perfect job for him. He ended up working with the terminally and critically ill children. He would talk to them and play with them and do arts and crafts with them. Sometimes, he would lose one of his kids. In certain instances, he would tell the grieving parents of these children that he would soon be with their child in heaven and that he would take care of them until they got there. He would also ask the parent if there was a message they would like to send with him for their child.
他希望做些事来转移注意力，决定在当地儿童医院做志愿者。我父亲喜欢小孩子。这工作对他来说再合适不过了。他的工作就是陪伴那些处于绝症末期和身患重病的孩子，与他们交谈，和他们玩耍，教他们做手工艺品。有时在他工作时间内，某个孩子会突然地死去。在这个时候，他会去劝慰那些悲伤的父母们，告诉他们，在不久之后他就可以去天堂陪伴孩子们，在父母们没到之前，他会照顾好这些孩子们。他还会问父母们是否需要带口信给孩子们。
My dad assurances seemed to help parents with their grieving. One of his kids was a girl who had been admitted with a rare disease that paralyzed her from the neck down. I don't know the name of the disease or what the prognosis usually is, but I do know that it was very sad for a girl around eight or nine years old. She couldn't do anything, and she was very depressed. My dad decided to try to help her. He started visiting her in her room, bringing paints, brushes and paper. He stood the paper up against a backing, put the paintbrush in his mouth and began to paint. He didn't use his hands at all. Only his head would move. He would visit her whenever he could and paint for her. All the while he would tell her, see, you can do anything you set your mind to.
父亲坚定的信念多多少少对父母们减轻悲痛有所帮助。在他照顾的孩子中，有一个女孩得了非常罕见的病，从脖子以下都瘫痪了。我不知道那病症的名称或者她痊愈的可能性有多大，但我知道一个8，9岁的女孩得了这病是非常难过的。她什么都不能做，感到非常沮丧。父亲决定帮助她。他去她的病房看望她，带给她颜料、画笔和纸。他将纸直立起来靠在背垫上，将画笔放在嘴里开始作画。作画时完全不用手，只将头移动。他一有时间就去看望她，而且在她面前作画。其实他一直在向她做示范，看，如果你有决心你什么都能做到。
Eventually, she began to paint using her mouth, and she and my dad became friends. Soon after, the little girl was discharged because the doctors felt there was nothing else they could do for her. My dad also left the children hospital for a little while because he became ill. Sometime later after my dad had recovered and returned to work, he was at the volunteer counter in the lobby of the hospital. He noticed the front doors open. In came the little girl who had been paralyzed, only this time she was walking. She ran straight over to my dad and hugged him really tight. She gave my dad a picture she had done using her hands. At the bottom it read, thank you for helping me walk.
终于，小女孩开始用她的嘴作画，她和父亲成为了朋友。不久以后，因为医生觉得他们没有办法治好她，院方叫小女孩出院了。我父亲也离开了儿童医院一阵子，因为他病得严重了。迟些时候父亲好些了，他继续回去工作。某天，他在医院大厅的志愿者工作台那里，突然前门打开，那个瘫痪的小女孩进来了，现在她已经能走路了。她径直跑向父亲，紧紧地抱住他，将亲手绘的一幅画送给了我父亲。在画的底端，写着“谢谢你，我能走路了”。
My dad would cry every time he told us this story and so would we. He would say sometimes love is more powerful than doctors, and my dad - who died just a few months after the little girl gave him the picture - loved every single child in that hospital.
父亲每次给我们讲这个故事时都会哭，我们也是。我说，有时爱比医生更有效。在收到那个小女孩的画的几个月之后，我父亲去世了，他深爱着医院里的每个孩子。
