Community support awes thankful Greenlee
For a guy who makes his living in a profession engrossed in winning and losing, Troy Greenlee has learned a lesson or two in life.
He knows how hard work will pay dividends. And how preparation can provide opportunity. And that there can be a fine line between winning and losing.
But he was perhaps never ready for what has consumed him the past two weeks.
With wife Becky Greenlee recovering from a Jan. 15 heart attack and its complications in an Indianapolis hospital, Greenlee gazed in amazement Saturday at the outpouring of love and support from his community.
"No words can express what this means to our family," Troy said as he alternated conversation with giving and receiving hugs from well-wishers.
As volunteers in purple "I believe" T-shirts bounded about the Greencastle Christian Church multi-purpose room, buyers sifted through piles of clothes and tables of yard sale wares, while legions of others on the prowl for a unique bargain hovered over silent auction bid lists.
When all the selling and bidding was over Saturday afternoon, the Greenlee family fundraiser, organized and accomplished in a little more than a week's time by Greencastle Christian Church volunteers, had raised somewhere between $15,000 and $16,000 to help Troy and Becky Greenlee with medical bills and related costs.
"I was thinking this morning about the quote 'never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has,'" commented one of the fundraiser organizers, Angela Kaiser Huff, on the church Facebook site Sunday.
"We just saw what we could do with a few hundred people pitching in over roughly 13 days," she added. "Baking, hauling, organizing, writing, using artistic talents, muscle, resources ... imagine if we were all that committed to using our talents every day.
"That truly would change our church, our community and our world!"
Saturday's silent auction alone took in an impressive $11,790 with the remainder coming from food sales and monetary donations for yard sale items.
"We are so grateful and thankful for all the support of the community and this church in particular," Troy, a Greencastle Middle School teacher and the boys' varsity basketball coach, said. "People around the city and the county and the state have been praying for us and praying for Becky's healing. We are so thankful for all of them."
Few witnessing Becky Greenlee's recovery may ever doubt the power of prayer.
Becky, the 39-year-old Deer Meadow Primary School counselor, has been hospitalized since suffering a heart attack at the church on Jan. 15. Almost within hours, the most dire of predictions were coming out. Friends and family were preparing for what seemed so sadly inevitable.
But all that changed beginning Jan. 18 and she has made gradual, if not sensational progress, ever since.
"Becky is pretty much 100 percent back neurologically," Troy offered Saturday.
"The big thing now is she's having a heart cath test Monday (today) to find out more information about her heart."
Essentially, the test will involve a heart catheter being sent through blood vessels with a tiny camera that can show where any blockage might be. That should tell a lot, Troy said.
In the meantime, Becky is talking and communicating, although "they're trying to keep that to a minimum," Troy said with a smile, knowing how verbal his gregarious wife can be.
"Physically she needs to get stronger. She's trying to get her strength back," he added, noting that she is still fighting use of a feeding tube.
Friends and family acknowledge it will be a long road back but positive signs and positive feelings are prevailing.
"It's a small miracle," David Murray said, assessing the overall situation as he checked out silent auction items.
"No," wife and mayor Sue Murray corrected, "it's a large miracle."
Amen.