My faithful friend Gary

Gary and Diane – celebrating Witt’s 1st birthday

This is my friend Gary – Gary Benz. Chances are you know Gary already. I met Gary sometime after we moved to Franklin in 2004. For a few years we were merely acquaintances. I knew him as our very friendly neighbor that loved to make people laugh and would do crazy things to put a smile on someone’s face. But then in 2010 I started to get to know Gary better and over the years he has become a big influence in my life. Let me tell you about the Gary I know.

In 2010, our son Witt was born with a congenital heart defect. At two months old Witt was in the cardiac unit at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital when he turned blue and was rushed to the cardiac ICU and placed on life support. Alison (my wife) and I were devastated and feeling hopeless. That night Gary and his friend Don Holloway came to visit us in the ICU. Gary and Don shared the gospel truths about hope – something we desperately needed, prayed with us, and anointed Witt with oil. Their visit was a light during a very dark time for us.

James 5:14 “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

Later that year, when we received the news that Witt would be going in to surgery for a heart transplant Gary and his sweet wife Diane sat with us through the night while the doctors performed Witt’s heart transplant. Their presence, in that otherwise lonely waiting room, meant a lot to us. Their visits and continued ministry over the months that followed were very influential in the decisions Alison and I made to give our lives over to Christ.

Waiting on news from the surgeon during Witt’s heart transplant

Two years later, it was Alison fighting for her life. Alison, a type-1 diabetic, had not been managing her diabetes well. We went to a local emergency room but they didn’t diagnose her correctly and didn’t understand the seriousness of her condition. Two days later and still in very bad shape I took her to the Vanderbilt ER. The doctors at Vanderbilt informed us that she was in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) – a very serious life threatening complication of her diabetes. With the delay in her diagnosis the doctors told us that she was very close to death and needed aggressive treatment immediately. Alison was in and out of consciousness over the next 48 hours and very scared in her moments of consciousness. But two days later she was improving and woke up in the ICU at Vanderbilt with Gary holding her hand – a memory she carries with her fondly today.

Over the years that followed we grew very close to Gary and Diane. They were there with us for special moments like Alison’s baptism, my baptism, and Witt’s 1st birthday. On the day of Witt’s first Christmas, Buddy the Elf, who suspiciously looked like Gary, paid a visit and made the kids day. Gary helped Witt catch his first fish – a moment where both Gary and Witt almost burst with excitement. Then on Easter Sunday this year, Gary was there to witness that baptisms of Witt and my mother – a very special moment for our family.

Four days after Witt’s baptism, Diane who had recently been diagnosed with a rare eye cancer was in the OR at Vanderbilt for radiation treatment. In the waiting room, Gary talked with friends and awaited news from Diane’s doctors. At one point he said he wasn’t feeling well and then collapsed. Gary was having a massive stroke. He was rushed to the ER where the medical team acted quickly to save his life. Over the days that followed hundreds of people, people whose lives had been touched by Gary’s kindness, gathered in the atrium awaiting news on Gary and Diane’s condition.

Friends and loved ones await news from Gary and Diane’s doctors

Diane came through the surgery ok but for Gary the first several days were tough. The doctors told the family that 85% of the people that have a stroke like Gary’s don’t make it and that had Gary not been in the waiting room at Vanderbilt where doctors were able to respond so quickly he surely would have died as well. Over the days and weeks that followed Gary faced one setback after another. First there was the bleeding in his brain. The doctors tried using drain tubes to relieve the pressure on his brain. And when that proved ineffective the doctors had to remove part of his skull to relieve the pressure caused by the bleeding. Then weeks later, in the rehabilitation hospital, Gary suffered a heart attack and had to be moved back to the ICU. For weeks Gary experienced one setback after the other but never lost hope.

Gary fought faithfully through all of this and recently was able to come back home after months in the hospital. He has a tough recovery ahead. But I know he will be ok. I know because Gary, over the last seven years, has shown me how he lives every day with faith and trust in Jesus. Gary, more than anyone I’ve ever met, knows how to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Heb 12:1).

On September 10th, I’ll be in Madison Wisconsin racing my second Ironman Triathlon. For the last five years, I’ve undertaken challenges like this to honor God, honor Witt and his fight, and to honor Witt’s heart donor. This year I’d like to do something different. This year I’ll be racing Ironman Wisconsin for Gary and other stroke survivors. I’ll be racing to honor Gary and his faithful walk with Jesus and the influence it has had on my life. I’ll be racing to honor God and the amazing stories that Witt and now Gary share about hope, healing, and love. I know from the personal testimonies shared over the last few months that many of you have been impacted by Gary’s kindness and faithfulness. If you count Gary as a blessing in your life I’d like to ask you to do two things…  1) I’d like to ask you today to honor his friendship with a donation to the American Stroke Association. And 2) I’d like to ask you to be a blessing to someone in the way that Gary has blessed your life.