| Many times I have often heard my
parents and grandparents speak of my sickness during my early childhood.
Even the old family doctor, the late Dr. S. A. Saunders didn’t expect me
to live when I was nine months old. I was a breast baby, but I could not
even have my mother’s milk. I was fed through my stomach with a needle
by our old family doctor. This was a solution of water that had been
boiled mixed with sugar one time and salt the next time. When the doctor
inserted the needle into my stomach, my mother begged him not to do it
because "it might hurt my baby". Then he explained, "No, this will help
her". I had a breathing problem, and was so frail. This feeding through
my stomach gave me enough strength after a long term, to start on my
mother’s breast milk. It was then that everyone seem to have hope that I
might live. This was a battle for my mother and father, for it took a
lot love and care. I was very tiny and pale, but our Heavenly Father
came on the scene As time went on, I was
always subject to taking colds so easy. I always had a cough. When I
started to school, I had to walk for miles in the cold along with my two
older sisters. I was always behind them, because I was coughing so much
and out of breath. Sometimes our father would take us to school on a
mule and cart. No school bus at all for this little country school. I
attended this school in the first grade. After this I started going to a
school in Ahoskie, N. C. in the second and third grade. There was a
school bus to travel on then. Leaving Ahoskie school after the third
grade, I entered Aulander school in the fourth grade. Still coughing and
trying to stay in school with the help of cough drops. Many times my
mother would give me some sugar in my hand to go to bed with when I
didn’t have cough drops. One of my younger sisters next to my age and I
shared a bed together. She would take an old stool chair and put quilts
or pillows on it so I could sit straight up in bed so I could breathe
better. Many times my parents would take me to our old family doctor,
the late Dr. S. A. Saunders and he would do a fluoroscope (a type of
x-ray) and said my lungs looked like clouds. I had bronchitis, and
pneumonia, so many times. At the age of 13, I started hemorrhaging from
my lungs. It was then that everyone thought I might have tuberculosis. I
was determined that I would fight on. By the help and grace of God
graduated in May of 1944
On July 10th of this same year, my husband
Henry Irvin Shores and I were united in marriage. It seem that my
sickness didn’t stop our love for each other. Although I have always had
to take a lot of medications and go through a lot of test, our marriage
has been a happy life. During my pregnancy I was very sick. I was always
loosing weight and couldn’t even keep my medicine or food on my stomach.
At about the sixth month, the doctor told my husband and parents that I
could not breathe for two because I was too weak. I had to take a lot of
penicillin. I was still determined that I wanted to try to make it by
God’s help. With tears in my eyes, the doctor said, "alright, we will
try". It was tough but I made it. Thank the Lord, we had a eight pound
precious baby boy. He was just as fat and healthy. I had pneumonia after
our baby was born. He was born at home, but again I pulled through. He
was also a breast baby. When he was about three years old I started
coughing up blood again. This put me back in bed again just as I had to
do at the sixth month of pregnancy with our first child
My doctor contacted other doctors in Wilson, N.
C. to have more test done. This is the way I have lived. I thank our
Heavenly Father for standing by me through all the dark hours. When our
first child was six years old and started to school, I got a job and
started to work with Planters Peanut Company in Aulander. I was on
medication for asthma all the time, also shots to help my breathing. I
worked like this until our son graduated in 1965. My cough was getting
worse and I was getting so weak and tired all the time. At this point is
when my doctor said I could not work, not very much housework. I took
him at his word and stopped. It was during this time our second child
came along, a darling baby girl. This was another one of God’s wonderful
blessings
I was called to Chapel Hill, N. C. in my early
fifties to be tested for Cystic Fibrosis. All the test showed that I did
have Cystic Fibrosis with Pseudomonas germ. When my family doctors got
the reports, they were astonished. They couldn’t believe it. They knew I
had Asthma. So the CF staffs did all the test over again to be sure.
Yes, it was for real. According to history, I am the oldest patient to
be diagnosed, and the oldest still living with the disease in the United
States. Praise our wonderful Lord. He has stood by me when the road was
so rough and it seem that there was no future for me. He knew I could
not make it by myself. The way I take care of myself is depending on my
Savior, obeying my doctors orders, taking my medications, getting
regular check-ups, be hospitalized for IV’s and staying away from people
who smoke or other things that upset my breathing. I say lets fight on
together, look for a brighter tomorrow, and maybe with our will power
and our trust in God, this battle can be won
(Mother has now gone
blind in her left eye and is now on more medications daily to protect
her from going all the way blind in her right eye. Mother is now very
weak. Please remember my mother in your prayers. God Bless, Donald
Shores.)
Katherine L. Shores
P. O. Box 172
Aulander, N. C. 27805
Phone: 252-345-0137
Email:
donnie_shores@adelphia.net |
