Gò0dNews for Life End-Of-Life Diagnosis: “Failure to Thrive”
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by Linda S. Humphrey
ecause God has not intended for us to
I began to wonder what must first happen for a
just survive” is a line in your publication
person to stop thriving. Perhaps it’s being told you only
under Writer Guidelines. When I saw “just
have a short time to live. Maybe it’s not having close
survive,” I pondered something I recently learned when
friends or family nearby. Chronic pain will surely wear
a friend sent me news that her sister was close to passing
a body and spirit down to a point of only seeing storm
away. She was under the care of Hospice and had been
clouds, not the sun that follows behind. There are so
given the diagnosis “Failure to Thrive.” I had not heard
many life experiences that rip apart our hearts and cause
this term that pierced my heart like a sharp arrow.
us to forget that we know the Great Physician who not
I, of course, went online and quickly learned that
only heals bodies but repairs the unseen parts of us.
it is indeed a diagnosis used for Hospice patients with
I heard a speaker who referred to Jesus’ coming to us
adult failure to thrive or a debility. Debility is a broad
when we are without hope as though He is “suturing up a wound that was ripped apart.” What a beautiful picture that paints in my mind. And while there may be permanent scars from the wound, it closes and heals. When a person fails to thrive, even those who are not ill, it is most likely not because they didn’t have access to food or a home or family, which was true of my friend. She had been a Christian all her life, played the organ at church, and grew up in a home where her father was a pastor. She was close to her sibling and had a loving relationship with her nieces and nephews. Something inside wasn’t fed and eventually caused her to starve.
medical term used to describe someone who is in a state
Are we starving? Are we longing to see or be
of weakness and often refers to a loss of ability. When
something? The Great Physician stands ready to suture
in a state of debility, everything seems an effort, and
our wounds. And while not every illness will be healed,
what used to be enjoyable now seems to take too much
our hearts and souls can find that sun and hold onto the
energy—that is what Google had to say.
day when we will see Him and know for certain that His
I wanted to cry. I tried to imagine who had first coined this phrase that became an actual diagnosis. On death certificates, clear causes of death, such as cancer
grave is empty and He lives and wants us to live! Gordon Hinckley said, “Life is to be enjoyed, not endured.”
Now, they are joined with Failure to Thrive.
22 // April 2020
About The Author
or a heart attack, fill in the box marked Cause of Death. Linda S. Humphrey lives in Niota, Tennessee. She is a correspondent for the Daily Post-Athenian (DPA) in Athens, Tennessee. She writes human interest articles and also a monthly column, “Keeping the Faith.”
