Editorial: Courageously facing his fear

OPINION: Troy Hardy is truly a brave man.

That was the one inescapable conclusion to be drawn from yesterday's page one story about the South Canterbury father-of-two's date with destiny today, when he will have a transplant of umbilical cord blood, which is seen as his only hope of surviving a rare form of leukemia.

There will be those reading this today, though not many, who have faced and overcome serious health challenges like this, or who have walked alongside a loved one facing a similar challenge. Only they can know for sure what it is really like to be in the situation the 41-year-old, his wife Andrea and their two daughters face right now.

The rest of us can only imagine, and surely none would imagine it can be anything but a terrible time.

And yet there is real hope. It comes through in Troy's words as he faces his fear head-on. He speaks with optimism of the procedure and how it is all supposed to work out, and he speaks positively. That takes courage and deserves our admiration.

Today, as he undergoes the procedure that represents his chance at life, Troy will be in the hands of the doctors and medical staff who have been with him thus far. He will be in good hands.

As a community there is not much we can physically do for him while the procedure is underway, although our thoughts and good wishes should be with him, and if we pray, our prayers too.

But as a community we can support him and his family in his recovery, because this is the kind of situation in which normal life gets put on hold. Indeed it has been for months already.

This is much like the scenario confronting the family of Temuka baby Alice Johnston late last year, as they faced the fact that she needed a liver transplant in order to survive. Both her parents had to give up their jobs to help her through, because that is what happens in such situations, but the South Canterbury community rallied around and helped to ensure they could get through financially.

The Hardy family's situation is not much different, except that it's a parent who faces the ultimate challenge. Obviously Troy has not worked for some time and, as reported yesterday, Andrea has had to give up her job to look after the children, so money is scarce.

The Herald wants to help the Hardy family and undertakes to pass any contributions from the community on to them.

In the meantime, we wish them Godspeed as this most difficult of journeys reaches a crucial milestone.

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