ELCA NEWS SERVICE
UPSTATE NEW YORK SYNOD

A Lutheran's Faith Remains Steadfast After Tragic Accident

      

Sunday, 21 June 2009

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 17, 2009 

A Lutheran's Faith Remains Steadfast After Tragic Accident 09-134-MRC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Diana Luscombe spent the past two years being angry with God.  "God and I have a rapport where I can yell. And I feel like God says, 'Bring it on.'"
     About two years ago Luscombe and her husband Mark, along with their 3-week old son and 22-month old daughter, were on their way to a church youth event. Luscombe was driving when the car veered off and hit a concrete median, causing the car to ricochet and roll three times landing on its roof. Their daughter's car window was the only one not broken. While her husband and children were not hurt, Luscombe broke her neck.
     Luscombe spent the next two weeks in an induced coma at a trauma hospital. "When I woke up, I was paralyzed from my shoulders down. I was also on a ventilator and had a tracheotomy," she said.
     Ensnared in a new reality she didn't understand, Luscombe's faith remained steadfast.  Luscombe is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in the process of joining St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Camillus, N.Y.
     An occupational therapist once told her, "Your worst day is your worst day. God finds you in that day and lifts you up." After a month in the trauma hospital, Luscombe moved to another hospital in Philadelphia for rehabilitation.
Doctors were uncertain how much mobility she could regain.
     "I learned how to feed myself, brush my teeth, hold a cup and regain control of my abdomen and lower back to keep myself from tipping when I sit," Luscombe said. Her goal is to be able to walk again, despite some doctors' prognosis.
Defying the odds, she walked 62 feet, rested, and walked another 62 feet with a walker this past May.
     Luscombe attributes her survival and rehabilitation successes to the prayers and support from family and "people around the world."
     "I am here because of the people who've supported me.
We need to be able to turn to each other and be strong for one another," she said. "I don't want to be going through this for nothing. My prayer is that other people will benefit from my experience, hopefully take away some hope or strength and know that it's okay to be angry, sad and frustrated and still be faithful."
     In addition to prayer and support to help carry her through therapy, Luscombe discovered a hidden talent -- painting.
     "At the hospital I met Lori, an art therapist, who invited me one day to the greenhouse for art. I had resisted, since I've never been an artist, but I went anyway," said Luscombe. With the use of a "U-cuff,"
Luscombe was able to hold a paint brush. Her art has been displayed in a variety of places.
     "I found that painting was very freeing. It gave me a way to express myself, to get out some of what I felt was locked inside. I tend to paint things related to nature. Painting is a way to reconnect with the natural world, since I was out of commission for six months."
     Regaining the use of her hands and arms also allows Luscombe to hug her children. "I wasn't sure if I would be able to hold my children. But since arriving home, I can hug and squeeze them," she said.
     Luscombe also became the first diaconal minister in the ELCA Upstate New York Synod, beginning service as director of youth and family ministry at St. Michael's.
A diaconal minister is a professional lay leader in the ELCA.
     The Rev. Marie C. Jerge, bishop, ELCA Upstate New York Synod, Camillus, presided over Luscombe's consecration in May. "I felt like I was participating in a miracle,"
she said. "Diana is a sign of hope. There's so much negative news in the world today that we're constantly looking for signs of hope. Diana is that hope for me and the church. Her determination, faith and ability to accept what has happened and turning to God to ask how she might serve God in these new circumstances ... is a miraculous sign of hope."
     Luscombe and her husband graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pa., in 2004. The Rev.
Mark R. Luscombe is pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Skaneateles, N.Y.
     As she continues to live a life full of hope since the accident, Luscombe still asks a lot of "why" questions.
"We just had a baby, Mark settled into a new call at a church, and it just seemed that life was on a good path,"
she said.
     "Then one day I started asking 'how' questions,"
Luscombe said. "How can I be a good mother? How can I be a good servant? How can I minister to others from the place where I am now? I definitely still have lots of 'why' days, but I have a lot more 'how' questions now.  And I think, that's okay, it's healthy."
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     Information about St. Michael's Lutheran Church is at http://www.stmichaelscamillus.org on the Web.

 

CONSECRATING A COURAGEOUS "COMEBACK KID"

Michael L. Cooper-White
Inside the cover of The Comeback God, my gift book to Diana Luscombe on the occasion of her consecration as a diaconal minister, I scrawled a note: "To Diana, the ultimate Comeback Kid, a true servant minister." On June 16, 2007, Diana was en route to lead a Theological Education with Youth (TEY) event at Gettysburg Seminary, where she had recently received a master's degree qualifying her for service as an ELCA diaconal minister. In an instant, Diana's car, which also carried her husband, two-year-old daughter and newborn son, went out of control and flipped over. While her three family members miraculously escaped serious injury, emergency room physicians doubted Diana would survive the devastating effects of the crash. When survival began to appear possible, other doctors said she likely would never leave a bed, with full-body paralysis all but certain. They did not know Diana's determination and strength of character! For months following her accident, Diana's comeback journey kept her away from her young children and husband Mark, an ELCA pastor, recuperating at a rehabilitation center in Philadelphia. On a warm, sunny afternoon on All Saints' weekend in 2007, I made one of several visits there with Diana. In the course of conversation I asked how her experiences had affected her faith journey, and whether or not she found herself angry with God. "For the first several months," she replied, "I often found myself asking why this had happened." But now I have moved beyond the whys and simply keep asking how? How can I be a good wife, mother and faithful disciple and servant of Christ?" On a late Saturday afternoon in May this year, having received a part-time call as Director of Youth and Family Ministries at St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Camillus, New York, Ms. Luscombe became Diaconal Minister Diana as she was consecrated by Bishop Marie Jerge of the ELCA's Upstate New York Synod. Noting the severity of Diana's condition after the accident, the bishop observed, "Many of us didn't know if this day would ever come." There were tears-not only on Diana's cheeks, but in many of our eyes-as she was handed the towel and basin, symbols of the variety of servant ministries in which Diana and dozens of other diaconal ministers live out their callings. Diana's family, colleagues and friends were in awe of her courage, determination and quiet faithfulness. St. Michael's leaders also presented her with a stone carving of a dancing family, thereby expressing their vision of Christian community wherein we join in a dance with the Divine One. Knowing that many congregations would shy away from calling a minister who rolls around in a wheelchair rather than walking, those of us from other places also admired St. Michael's leaders and members. Pastor Janet Fechner-Pelletier explained after the service that calling Diana enabled the congregation to realize a long-awaited dream of expanding its ministry among youth and families. "At the meeting convened to consider calling her, it was a joy to hear people rise up and speak of Diana's gifts," said St. Michael's pastor. "It also gives us an opportunity to teach our members and many others about this still-unfamiliar new form of ministry," said Fechner-Pelletier, noting as had Bishop Jerge at worship that Luscombe is the first called diaconal minister in Upstate New York.