媽媽不忍說再見 Mom's Long Goodbye
美聯社
Seven-year-old Nicholas Chamernik had rarely seen his parents cry. So he f
elt a pang1 of worry when he looked up one evening to see his father wipin
g away tears.
7歲的尼可拉斯‧錢莫尼克難得看到父母哭泣，有天晚上抬頭看見爸爸在拭淚，不禁
擔心起來。
”Dad, what's wrong” he asked.
他問：「爸爸，怎麼了？」
Jim Chamernik was too choked up to respond. After 18 months of grasping fo
r answers, he and his wife, Aimee, finally had an explanation for symptoms
Aimee had been having - slurred speech and weakness in her right arm amon
g them. The diagnosis was Lou Gehrig's disease2, a degenerative condition
of the nervous system, also known as ALS, short for amyotrophic lateral sc
le-rosis.
吉姆‧錢莫尼克哽咽得說不出話來。經過18個月努力尋找答案，妻子艾咪口齒不清、
右臂無力等種種症狀終於找到原因，她得了稱為「路蓋里格氏病」的神經系統退化疾
病，也稱為ALS，是「肌萎縮側索硬化症」的縮寫。
There is no cure. But how could they explain that to a child that his mom
is dying
這種病是不治之症，但做父母的要如何向小孩子解釋，媽媽不久於人世？
It would be tempting for a parent to shield a child as long as possible fr
om such a painful reality. But the Chamerniks have chosen a different path
- one of gentle honesty. Theirs is the story of two parents doing the bes
t they can to help their children understand and cope with terminal illnes
s3.
做父母的可能會想盡量瞞著孩子，不讓他受痛苦現實的折磨。但錢莫尼克夫婦選擇了
另一種方式，委婉的讓他們知道真相。這是一個父母竭盡所能，幫助子女了解和面對
末期疾病的故事。
Nicholas responded in his 7-year-old way. ”You know mom, when I grow up,
I'm going to be a paleontologist and a St. Louis Cardinals baseball player
and a zoologist and a person who studies plants,” he said.
對父母的說明，尼可拉斯說出7歲的孩子的想法：「媽媽，我長大要做古生物學家、
聖路易紅雀隊棒球隊員、動物學家和研究植物的人。」
”Well, I'm also going to be a doctor,” he said. ”So if you're still al
ive, I can help them find out how to make you better.”
「而且，我也要做醫生」他又加了一句：「如果你還活著，我就能幫他們把你醫好。
」
They were the first indication that, at some lev-el, Nicholas understood t
he gravity of her slow decline. That moment also marked the beginning of a
long goodbye for a 37-year-old mother.
這些話透露出，尼可拉斯有些明白媽媽身體日漸衰弱的嚴重性。那一刻也是一位37歲
媽媽對孩子漫長道別的開始。
Even Aimee's doctors don't know exactly how long she has. It's been a litt
le more than two so far.
艾咪的醫生也不知道她還能活多久，如今已過了兩年多。
Already, her children - Nicholas, Emily, now 7, and 3-year-old Zachary - h
ave seen her fall sev-eral times.
她的孩子尼可拉斯、現在7歲的艾蜜莉和3歲的薩加利已經好幾次看到媽媽跌倒。
Sometimes, Emily fantasizes about a special telephone to heaven she could
use to call her mom. But what will she do, she wonders, when she needs a h
ug from her mom
有時候艾蜜莉會幻想有一條直到天堂的專線電話，可以打給媽媽。但她想不出來，如
果想要媽媽抱抱時該怎麼辦？
Aimee's eyes fill with tears at the thought of not being there.
想到孩子需要時她不能在身邊，艾咪就熱淚盈眶。
Nicholas is now in fourth grade. For his last two birthday parties, he's a
sked friends to bring dona-tions for ALS research instead of gifts - and r
aised more than $350 last year.
尼可拉斯現在四年級了，最近兩次慶生會，他要朋友不要送他禮物，把錢捐做ALS研
究之用，去年募得350美元。
詞解
1.pang:指精神上或身體上一陣急劇的感覺，包括飢餓、痛苦等，例如a pang of jea
lousy struck me（嫉妒心大作）。
2.Lou Gehrig's disease:路蓋里格是美國職棒洋基隊明星，因罹患運動神經系統退
化性疾病ALS被迫在1939年退休，因為他ALS又稱「路蓋里格氏病」。
3.terminal illness:terminal 有終點的意思，如火車、巴士的終站、機場航站大廈
等，電影「航站情緣」就是「The Terminal」，用來形容疾病時指已到末期。
【2007-02-03/聯合晚報/7版/英文下午茶】
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 140.123.2.6