On Loving and Thanking
“Tell the people you love how much they mean to you and thank the people who help you.”
Typically when I profile someone for this blog, I arrange an interview to get details I don’t already know. There are always stories behind the story so I love to see how an essay unfolds. But I know better than to ask Dr. Jane Harrell to help me on a profile piece about her.
If I had asked, Jane’s face would have turned red, her blue eyes would have grown wide and she would have ducked her wispy blonde head before saying, “It’s all God not me.”
Well, it is and it isn’t. God always needs people to be “hands and feet” in this world and Jane Harrell never stops using hers.
I first met Jane almost fifteen years ago when she was running a free clinic at the Urban Ministry Center (now Roof Above). Jane was always a bright beacon on campus serving up both medical and spiritual advice.
“God’s got you,” she would say with full confidence as she wrote up a prescription or bandaged a wound.
Jane was never trying to recruit souls just assure someone that even though they might be in a dark place, there is always hope. And I believe Dr. Jane, as she is known, serves up more hope than anyone in Charlotte.
She has a huge heart those experiencing homelessness, but Jane also helps hundreds more in her private practice, H3 Healthcare. Every patient there feels like they might be the only patient on her caseload. In Dr. Jane’s world, there are no off hours or afterhours—she is always on and always on call—whether the practice has scheduled her or not. I have had heard over and over “Jane Harrell saved my life.” The most amazing part about that it is always different people saying that exact same remarkable statement.
One friend told me that Jane’s intuition helped detect a cancer for which he had no markers. Another friend told me how Jane would call to check on her months after a family tragedy. Dr. Jane seems to have energy and empathy in equal amounts flowing through her veins.
My own family has spent countless hours with Dr. Jane some of which I wrote about in The Last Ordinary Hour. I have joked that Jane is my husband’s second wife because he probably talks to her more than me. But I am happy to share him because that remarkable statement “ Jane Harrell saved my life” applies to us as well.
Over the past eight years, I cannot think of anyone who has been more a part of our medical miracles than Jane. She has listened to hours of worries not only from me and Charlie but our four daughters as well. Jane is part doctor, part therapist, part mentor and part friend to our family. She has laughed and listened and prescribed and prodded us into a new way of being.
If you have read my new book you know that I dedicated it to her and you know it has not been a simple journey. If it wasn’t for Dr. Jane, my whole family might have fallen down and never been able to get back up. I am grateful to be standing today with all of those I love mostly because Dr. Jane helped us all get back up.
A very, very wise 17-year-old, Dr. Jane’s daughter, young Jane Harrell, wrote this before she went to heaven: Tell the people you love how much they mean to you and thank the people who help you.
So today, Dr. Jane I write to tell you both—I love you and I thank you for helping so many in Charlotte.
But a special thank you for caring for all the hearts I love the most.
—Kathy
Kathy Izard is the founder of Women | Faith & Story and the award-winning author of two books, The Hundred Story Home and A Good Night for Mr. Coleman. Her new memoir, The Last Ordinary Hour, is now out in ebook, audiobook, and paperback on Amazon and your favorite booksellers. Learn more www.kathyizard.com.