The boys, and by boys I mean RED, had the amazing privilege of meeting one sweet little girl during their last run at a concert in Canada. This precious girl, Katherine, is battling a form of childhood leukemia. One of her dreams has been to meet the band. Below is a blog Katherine's mother posted about meeting the boys.
To stay informed of Katherine's progress you can check out her blog. Please pray for this sweet little girl.
www.jorin.net/The_Green_Family
You can click on "Katherine's Updates" once on their site
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Seeing RED 22/02/09
Kathy’s treatment day this past Thursday took longer than normal... and this is a good thing. Her counts have been steadily dropping the past few weeks, as the treatment continues to do its job on her bone marrow. This is a rest phase, however, and so sometimes improvements can and will happen, in terms of blood counts. Well, we had one of those days... Kathy’s counts were all up, so for the first time in several weeks, she received a full course of treatment. In the past weeks, her immune system has been too low to receive everything, something which is quite normal at this stage in treatment, but on Thursday, with her improved numbers, she was able to get it all. This meant it was a late afternoon departure from Saskatoon, and with the snow falling in the early evening, the family didn’t make it all the way home. First a night at Chateau Dymond, then a night with the Kithcens... good times. Mike is off school this week but college is in full swing, so he when along. They had left Wednesday morning, and arrived home mid-morning on Friday, giving me the house to myself for a couple of days, which is both nice (quiet!!) and not (alone).
Kathy’s treatments are right on schedule, and things seem to be going just fine. She is now on a bit of rest until the next phase, which beings in the next couple of weeks. It will be one of the hard, nasty phases, meaning the hair she currently has will go again. After that... maintenance!! One day at a time. She is still doing fine, and I even asked her the other evening if she was bothered by having cancer. She isn’t, and I am not sure she has thought much about it before or since I asked... On the whole, I think we are all coping fairly well, though there are days I am doing better than others. I think the same holds true for Dorothy, but with maintenance now looming, it does feel like the pressure might just start to lift. Mind you, the next 56 day cycle means upwards of 4 days/week of travel in the car, and lots of chemo... Probably the one coping the worst is our car, which turned 62,000 KM this week. This time last year, it was around 17,000.
Anyone who spends any amount of time with Mike and Kathy knows they have... unusual music tastes for children. Mike loves Petra, especially from the 80s. Kathy loved the heavy stuff, and both will listen to things like Divinefire (symphony metal from Sweden) with me, principally when Dorothy ISN’T in the car. For the past few months, Kathy has had a particular interest in the band RED, a driving, passionate group which reminds me a touch of Kutless, one of the other family favorites. In fact, her iPod only has RED on it for music, along with the last two issues of WOW (Christian music videos), as RED has videos on both. To say my family likes their music is an understatement, and since some time this fall, Kathy has been most fanatical about RED. (yes, it is supposed to be in all caps...)
Briercrest College and Seminary are 90 miles from Millar, and are one of the regular schools we are in connection with. Many of our staff have come through Briercrest Seminary, and I will be taking another class there myself in a week’s time. Some of our students, needing opportunities larger schools can afford, transfer to Briercrest. In the 80s, in fact, I was even a “Port Kid” while my father served as the business manager for the school. In all, we have a pretty good connection, as a college, with Briercrest. Every year, they host a large youth event called “Youth Quake,” which usually features a significant musical guest. This year? RED. Sadly, no public tickets were being sold, as I contacted them sometime in late fall to ask if Kathy could meet the band, a request which was declined.
In early Jan, I looked at the e-mail I had sent to the Youth Quake folks, and realized I hadn’t told them the situation around the request for Kathy to meet RED. I, after some wrestling, called them, realizing that if it was someone else’s child, I would happily play advocate to arrange a meeting between a sick girl and her favorite band. The phone call was relatively short, but I was surprised to find the request was on the table with the YQ folks, and they were working on it... seems someone explained our situation to them. After not hearing for weeks, I contacted them again, but they didn’t have any more information for me yet, as they had been unable confirm a meeting with the band. Thursday night, knowing YQ was 24 hours way, I called again, feeling a bit like a pest (I was assured I wasn’t being one to them). They had been unable to communicate with the band, and so still didn’t know any more than I did, but there were a few tickets being sold for the concert, which started at 10:30PM (I think it was...) and would run until 1AM, with RED being the last of 3 performing groups. Hmmm... 1AM with Kathy... wasn’t sure what Dorothy would think. Quick calls ensued, including booking a place to sleep (thank you Steve & Barb!!). They put our tickets on hold, and we didn’t say a word to Kathy.
Friday night, Kathy knew she was getting a surprise of some sort, but didn’t know what it was. Because the concert was starting so late, we left early evening, and by not telling her, I was able to get her to nap for an hour or so. Hannah, a former student and a close family friend met me and a very groggy, confused Kathy just as the main session was on for the youth retreat. Hannah took Kathy to sit in the main session while I bought our tickets, and tried to track down one of the YQ staff I had been dealing with, as we still didn’t know if the band was willing to see us. About 30 sec later, before I was able to find a YQ staffer, one of the Briercrest students approached me, introduced herself, and informed me she was RED’s host on campus, that they were napping presently, but were wondering if 11:15 would work for some time with them? I assured the host 11:15PM would be fine...
Kathy knew, from when I awoke her, that we were there to see RED in concert, but she also knew we were not guaranteed a chance to meet them. Now we told her we were meeting the band, and the next hour seemed to stretch out for her... and the closer 11:15pm came, the slower time went. 11:15, and the host met us, escorting us backstage to the RED dressing room.
We walked into back stage, where the band was waiting for us, Kathy leading the way. This was the early sight (apologies to one RED member... didn’t center the picture quite right):
We chatted with them for a few minutes, knowing they were tired, had a show to do, and a 6am plane the next morning. Hannah and I, as Kathy’s escort, stayed to the background mostly, though the band all introduced themselves to us. Kathy chatted with them, they asked her about herself, and we enjoyed 5 or 7 min of intense band-fan bonding before I suggested to Kathy we should let them prepare.
I have been blessed to meet many bands over the years, including some of my personal heros, and with all these meetings, there is always a bit of fear involved: what if their character and behavior doesn’t match with their ministry? This was my fear with Bob and John, knowing how significant Petra has been in my own life over the years, though with Bob and John, I was not disappointed. As my students often seem to figure out, attitude and actions are a big deal to me, be it in the classroom, my worship team, or in general. With picking a worship team, for example, my personal rule is character over musical skill. I don’t expect perfection by any stretch, but for me, Kutless has long stood as the standard I measure other Christian bands by when meeting them only for a few min. Kutless (as a whole group) was open, personable, interested in us, and willing to share themselves. That meeting has long been one of the reasons I continue to be a big Kutless fan, great music notwithstanding.
5-7 min isn’t enough to really know anyone, but I did go into this meeting of RED with a clear expectation that they SHOULD be solid and godly, given the songs they had written. While I cannot give anything approaching a definitive answer, I do know this: any group who treats my little girl, and the rest of us following her as well as these men do is special. It reminded me of meeting Kutless: there wasn’t an ego, but I did have a clear sense of authenticity. Watching them chat with her, asking good questions of and about her showed me they were about far more than themselves. Maybe I trust my instinct and sense of discernment too much with people, but my only regret was our time with them was too short. I would have liked to get to know them a bit, and I still regret not praying with them...
So the meeting was amazing. I had bought their new album and a shirt before we went to meet them, so Kathy was sporting their shirt, and carrying their CD, which they all signed for her. In the days since, she has watched their new music video several times/day, and is still wearing the shirt.... She even picked out a thank you card which she want to send them. I fear their fan is more a fan now then before... but there are worse things. We listened to the new album, Innocence and Instinct, on the way home... awesome! I loved their first album... and the 2nd might be better. For those into the musical style, it is a “must buy.” For those who aren’t, buy it anyway, and give it to a pagan who likes hard rock. You will help the band make a living, and you will plant some seeds.
The evening would have been cool if this was the whole story, but it wasn’t. Just before we left, they asked Kathy which was her favorite song. “Wasting Time” was the quick reply... Kathy knows her mind. They shifted uncomfortable for a moment. “We haven’t been doing that one on tour,” they replied with a laughh. Looking at one another, one said “I guess we need to figure out where to put that into the lineup.” They were true to their word. Kathy was tired, and wanted to go after about 6 songs (she had chemo the day before, and it was now well after 1AM, the night running behind schedule). I made her stay, hoping they would do her song. Sure enough, after a song ended, one of the team talked about how they were doing a special request for Kathy from Swift Current. They explained her situation, then proceeded to pour themselves into the song, as Kathy rocked out and I quietly wept. I know the drummer is new to the band, and I know the song wasn’t part of their normal lineup... but I don’t think there was a song that night they threw themselves into the way they did “Wasting Time,” which is particularly impressive when you consider they are an extremely intense band live. Not only did they do Kathy’s favorite for her, but they did it justice. We left a song later, as Kathy was just too tired to stay. It was almost 2AM.
It was a great night and a great concert, apart from meeting the band and their dedicating a song to Kathy. Knowing how hard YQ worked on our behalf, and the openness of RED to accommodate us helps makes Friday night/Sat morning easily the most special event Kathy has had in a long, long time. In the lead-up to the concert, I was reflecting on Kathy’s year: the missed birthday parties, including her own; the many hours in the car (about 40,000KM for her now, meaning over 400 hours); the hospital visits; the not being able to be social; the leg injections and tape should loves so much (
I have prattled on quite a bit... thank you for your enduring reading all of this. Friday night was huge for Kathy, and for us to have it happen for her. God worked out the timing, YQ went above and beyond on our behalf, and RED was something special. Thank you doesn’t seem to quite do it justice, but it is all we have. Please also pray for RED: they flew into Regina from Detroit, grabbed a bit of sleep, ministered with their in music (which, given how intense they are in concert, you know they are tired when done...), then were on a 6 AM plane for Nashville. They have families, and some have children. Tough way to make a living, and to minister. Please pray that God would continue to lead them, use them, and keep them.
Thank you all for reading and praying. God is good... and it has been a special week.
God Bless!
One last photo, and this one is extra special:
(Thank you, guys! We are praying for you. BTW, when are you coming back to Canada??)
