The Summit Magazine Fall 2022

In Memory of Christian James, 4/6/1970 to 11/28/2022

Health Crisis Launches a Faith-Filled Journey

By Tanya Bricking Leach

Christian James never used to know what it was like to “live in the moment.”

Seven years ago, he was a healthy 45-year-old father of three in Miami Township. He was running the property development company his father-in-law had started. His oldest child, Craig ‘15, had just graduated from The Summit.

“I was just going through the motions,” he remembers. “My goal was, every day, just make it to tomorrow.”

That fall, Christian started experiencing muscle spasms and went to his family doctor, thinking he had injured himself. But what he thought was a minor concern, was not.

Deadly Diagnosis

His doctor referred him to a neurologist and test after test finally produced a clear diagnosis. Christian had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. It’s a progressive disease that affects the nerves of the brain and spinal cord. It steadily weakens the muscles over time. It’s the same disease that ended the career of one of baseball’s most beloved players, Lou Gehrig.

The diagnosis was devastating.

“It felt like my world collapsed on top of me,” he shares. “There’s no cure. There’s no treatment. The average person with ALS lives about two to three years.”

Turning to Prayer

Christian worried what his disease was going to put his family through.

“About two weeks after I got diagnosed, I drove to work, parked my car and I just started crying,” he says.

He had great support, a wonderful family and a fantastic wife. But at that moment, he felt all alone. He had always been a practicing Catholic who went to church every Sunday and prayed the rosary. At that moment, alone in his car, he started praying to Mary.

“I said, ‘OK, Our Lady. I need you. I cannot do this by myself,’” he recalls. “I immediately felt her presence. For the first time in my life, I thought that she was real.”

That’s when everything changed for him.

Faith-Full

Shortly after his diagnosis, Christian made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, a destination in France for people who are sick. Some people come in hopes of being healed by the Lourdes water. Christian wanted to make a stronger connection with his faith, and he says it changed his life.

“It made me happy and hopeful, full of joy,” he says of his pilgrimage. “And I hadn’t been full of joy for a long time. I made a promise to Our Lady that I would tell anyone who would listen about my experience of the pilgrimage. And about God’s love.”

Now, each year, he visits The Summit to tell seventh graders about how discovering his faith affected his perspective on ALS. His talk is timed to precede Confirmation in the fall.

“My first thought was, ‘These kids are going to think I’m crazy. They’re not going to understand me.’ I thought it was such an adult topic,” he says. “Then I realized that the Holy Spirit took over and just talked through me.”

Summit’s seventh graders not only understood the topic, but they also connected with Christian, listened attentively and asked questions.

“The Holy Spirit really allowed them to feel comfortable asking interesting, deep questions about ALS and about my faith,” Christian says. “I was just blown away by it.”

Since then, Christian’s talk has become an annual tradition at The Summit. He wants young people to understand his faith story and be inspired to develop their own.

Defined by Love

Physically, Christian’s body is deteriorating. He started using a cane in 2018; the next year it was a walker. In 2020, he required a wheelchair to maintain mobility. Today, he needs an oxygen mask to breathe, and he’s lost the use of his hands.

Spiritually, he is thriving.

“Before ALS,” Christian says, “I was just walking through my faith as opposed to really living it.”

Now, he says, he sometimes thinks about the little things he wishes he could still do, like hug his family. And he misses making the sign of the cross. But he believes his prayers are answered, and he’s come to appreciate small acts of love.

When he talks to Summit students about his faith, sometimes he cries. Sometimes he jokes around. But he always tells students that his talk isn’t about only him. It’s about Our Lady and Jesus and enjoying the life that you have.

“They see me in this wheelchair — I’m completely paralyzed,” Christian says. “But I tell them, ‘If I can be happy, you can be happy.’ And I say, ‘You probably wonder: Why is he so happy?’ It’s because I have my faith.”

And he ends every talk with advice for anyone who will listen: “Today is all that matters so listen to people today. Have conversations with people today. Enjoy the little moments today.”