Shared Places and People

For decades, we shared the love of a place (El Paso, Texas) and the mutual respect for a person (my father) yet we had never met until last month.

In 2019, Margy Christian sent me an email after reading The Hundred Story Home and realizing she had been my dad’s law partner for years. Margy and her husband, Nathan, had since moved to Austin but she remembered fondly both my hometown and my beloved father. On February 6, 2022, Margy sent me another email but this time it was about reading The Last Ordinary Hour and realizing we now shared another point of connection—rare diseases in our husbands. In a great Godinstance, I was in Austin to meet my first grandchild only a week after receiving her second email, so Margy and I met for a coffee that turned into a two- and half-hour soul session. I am forever grateful for the way books lead us to stories we never knew and to each other. Margy wrote her story for me below.

-Kathy

The Hundred Story Home was a special book for me. Kathy Izard’s father, Leighton Green, was my law partner for many years, and I could see his paternal influence in Kathy’s story and in her intellect, and in her heart.  He and her mother have instilled in her the gifts of love and caring and faithfulness that she has fulfilled by touching others’ lives. Leighton was a pinnacle of our law firm, our church, and of our community.  Now, so is his daughter.

Kathy and I communicated by email about our connection and promised to get together at some point in the future.  Life went on, and we never met.

About a month ago, I very randomly discovered that Kathy had written another book, The Last Ordinary Hour.  I immediately downloaded the audiobook and listened to it that day.  Her story spoke directly to me at that moment in my life. 

My last ordinary hour with my husband of 46 years was April 7, 2021.  On that day, he had lumbar surgery which triggered a very rare neurodegenerative disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.  Like Kathy’s husband’s diagnosis, this disease is so incredibly rare, literally one in a million people, that most doctors have never seen it.  There is no treatment.  The patient is referred to Hospice, goes through very rapidly progressive dementia, psychosis, and the loss of motor skills, eventually losing the ability to walk, speak, see and swallow.  My husband was diagnosed on August 4th, his 71st birthday, and passed away on January 18th.  Like Charlie, my husband had been extraordinarily healthy.  He was retired but filled his life as a skier, a fly fisherman who tied his own flies, a hiker, a road biker, and an avid hunter. Our lives were filled with two incredible children and two young grandsons, the lights of our lives. Despite this intractable disease, God was with us and provided what we needed just when we needed it.

I contacted Kathy again to let her know how her new story had resonated with me.  She wrote back immediately, and we set up a time to meet.  We spent two and a half hours together exploring our commonalities, from our lives and friends in El Paso to our husbands’ radical diagnoses. It was a release and comfort to share our stories and our tears. As with Kathy, my faith has grown stronger as my life has become more tenuous. None of us should take “normal” hours for granted.  As Kathy noted in her book, our perceived hall passes can be rescinded in an instant.  

I spoke to Kathy about my crazy idea of writing a pamphlet or book to use my experiences to help others dealing with CJD.  The disease is so rare that treating the symptoms, which are hellish, is a daily trial and error guessing game, even for medical professionals.  She gave me advice on writing and has offered to help.  God continues to support both of us, and we have angels on our teams.  Thank you, Leighton, for sharing your incredible daughter.  Wow, you must be so proud.  

—Margy

Margy Christian is a former partner with Kemp Smith LLP law firm in El Paso, Texas who now lives in Austin, Texas. She is a mother and grandmother who volunteers with The Gathering at Westlake Presbyterian Church and enjoys the Utah mountains. Margy hopes to write about CJD in order to help other families with this devastating illness.

Kathy Izard is the founder of Women | Faith & Story (www.womenfaithstory.com) and the award-winning author of three books. Her first memoir The Hundred Story Home released in 2016, received a Christopher Award for outstanding inspirational nonfiction. In 2019, she created a children’s book, A Good Night for Mr. Coleman with artist Evelyn Henson, encouraging kids to dream big and do good. Her new memoir, The Last Ordinary Hour, is now available in ebook, audiobook, and paperback through your favorite booksellers. Kathy’s work has been featured on NPR as well as the Today Show inspiring people to be changemakers in their communities. Learn more www.kathyizard.com.