A woman incapacitated for 34 years draws on love from God, friends and family to persevere.
By Fr. Vincent Youngkamp

In the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church was described as a community of people, united in Jesus Christ, who are led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to their Father’s Kingdom. This is an apt description of how Catholics have come thus far and the pilgrimage we are currently making. Each of us is doing what we can to make this a better, brighter world.

I’ve spent recent months filling in at the parish of Yakatamachi here in Wakayama City, Japan. Here, I have been privileged to meet some of these pilgrims who, along with the normal adversities of life, are making their pilgrimage bearing the heavy load of physical disability.

Theresa Matsumoto Taeko San lives in Wakayama University Hospital. At age 7, she contracted Progressive Muscular Dystrophy. As the disease progressed, her incapacitation increased. At age 28, Taiko San was placed in an iron-lung machine, and she has been there for the past 34 years.

From her neck down, all muscles have been paralyzed except the thumb of one hand; the priceless “limb” in her life. She was baptized 40 years ago and has been a committed pilgrim since, bringing others to join us on our road to the Father.

I, or another priest, bring her Holy Communion every week. I leave with the sense of having been near holiness. Some time ago, Taeko San put her thumb to work and learned how to use the computer. She can now use e-mail, and at New Year’s, she sends greeting cards to a long list of friends.

Quite a procession of friends and acquaintances come to see her. I suspect many come for counseling. Not long ago she asked me to offer Mass in her room. Somehow the word slipped out, and the crowd in her room was almost unmanageable. In these confined circumstances, we celebrated the Eucharist and Taeko San and her friends seemed re-enforced for their journeys.

Taeko San’s Story
I recently talked with Taeko San about the road she has traveled. She mentioned that she had written a book of poems.

I asked for one, and she kindly gave me a copy. She also wrote the following about herself, which I translated into English.

“Hello! I am a heavily physically handicapped person and bedridden. I was attacked with a disease called Progressive Muscular Dystrophy when I was 7 years old. The disease gradually advanced, and I was pressed for breath 31 years ago at my home. I was taken to the hospital by an ambulance car.

“Since then, I have not been able to breathe by myself and I have been living by using “iron lungs” and a respiratory organ. Both of them are artificial respiratory machines. I place my whole body in the iron lung machine except my head up from the neck. I can manage to eat and speak. I am able to breathe and speak with the help of a respiratory machine held in my mouth. I cannot do anything without the support of others, but I am able to enjoy eating what I like with the help of others. I also enjoy talking with the visitors.

At present, I have sound eyesight and hearing that healthy people take for granted. That is a great joy for me.

“During many years of fighting against my illness, trivial things have made me happy and unhappy. But, I find myself normal the next day. Through these, I am thankful for my blessings.

“Although I am bedridden, I was able to live safely because of the abundant love and blessings I have received from God. For that I am grateful and happy about it. I would like to be true to myself and take everything as it is and cherish each day. The recent succession of negative events has caused me sadness. Today the number of people who make light of their life is increasing. I do not think anyone who cannot cherish one’s life can love others or value the importance of life.

“There is a phrase in the Bible, “Love others as you love yourself.”

If you love yourself and your family and the people surrounding you, the circle of love will spread like a water ring. Our society will be a beautiful place if we respect and love one another.

“Recently I was advised to receive a bronchotomy (an incision made to increase air to the lungs) to live without my iron lung. But I would rather live and die as I am now even though the operation would prolong my life. A procedure would take away my voice and chain me to tubes that would make it impossible for me to eat.

“I would like to cherish my life given by God until I return it to Him. God bless you.”