Meghan Bunn--A Starbust of Hope

   

“Starburst—Something that looks like rays of light streaming out from the center.”—Miriam Webster definition.

When I first met Meghan Bunn, then age ten, she was awaiting surgery to remove what would later be diagnosed as medulloblastoma.   That brain tumor, plus other spots on her spine, would qualify her for numerous rounds of some pretty potent chemotherapy over the coming year.

On that pre-surgical visit I asked her what her favorite candy was.   In no time, I was in the gift shop hunting for and finding Starburst candies.  I rushed back to her room saying, “If it’s o.k. with your parents, you can have one now, but save the rest for when you are able to eat after the surgery.”

An experienced chaplain had once told me that one way to communicate hope to a child facing surgery is to say, with confidence, “the candy will be here waiting for you.”

What I never expected was how this child would become a “starburst” of hope for a church, a community, and for other children and families experiencing illnesses like hers.

It has been about a year and a half since that surgery.  I have had the joy of seeing Meghan return to Church, sometimes with casts from broken bones weakened from the chemo, a scarf for her bald head, and a smile broad as a shooting star!

She has been featured on numerous television and radio programs, in newspapers, at community events, and honored by her favorite team, the N.C. State Wolfpack

She has so impacted her friends that one friend asked that in lieu of gifts for her birthday party, that donations be made to Meghan’s medical fund.

Church members prayerfully followed every one of her crises and recoveries, crying with her pain, then celebrating her recovery.

Her family welcomed the birth of another sister during the course of her chemo (Meghan now is older sister to three beautiful girls).  Those little sisters certainly have a star to look up to.

And most people in Granville County now know Meghan’s name and when they speak it, they speak with more hope and with a lot of pride.

I don’t see Meghan and her family since I no longer am their interim pastor.  But it delights me to see her smiling face on Facebook, and to read about her from time to time in the media. I always feel more hopeful when I see her photo.

I think I now know why Meghan’s favorite candy is Starburst!   That’s pretty much who she is, “something that looks like rays of light streaming out from the center”!