A Marathon Friendship
L
eila Ventar, a resident of the island of Kauai in Hawai’i and a member of the Kapa’a church, thought Dec. 11, 2022, was going to be the day she carried herself across the finish line of the Honolulu Marathon, her fourth marathon overall. However, on Nov. 22, two days after an 18-mile training run, a medical examination revealed that she had colon cancer. Surgery followed the diagnosis, and in a conversation with a friend after the surgery, Leila seemed to hint that her recent 18-mile run might truly be the last time she’d ever run. On a Sabbath afternoon, as Leila’s church family was visiting with her at the hospital following a surgical procedure, the upcoming marathon—only two weeks away—was on several people’s minds: how could Leila miss a race she’d worked so hard to prepare for? Yet the race now seemed to be a distant dream. The story of Jesus’ healing of the paralyzed man in Luke 5
22 Pacific Union Recorder
Hawaii Conference