A Dream Fulfilled

On February 5th Michael Lyons, (pictured above with David) an avid David Archuleta fan, came home from the hospital only to find out that David's show had sold out the night before. Determined to see David's show, he posted a note in the New England Angel's Group on DA.com, asking if anyone had an extra ticket to the show. Within a few days, he had his ticket due to the compassion, kindness and perseverance of David's amazing fans. But would they stop at just a ticket? NO!

Read on for Michael's story.

Michael is a smart, sweet and funny man. He has his Master's degree and was pursuing his Doctorate when an unfortunate accident happened. Michael got stuck with a needle while observing a nurse working with a patient. A few years later, Michael was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, which is a disease caused by the Hep C virus and which affects the liver. Within one short year his liver had signs of advanced scarring (cirrhosis). But here's the kicker: normally, in takes 20 - 30 years for people infected with the Hep C virus to exhibit cirrhosis, and many don't develop it at all in their lifetime.

He started treatment to kill off the virus. This, as you can imagine, is ridiculously awful. For 48 weeks, Michael had to get injections of interferon and take ribavirin by mouth. In some cases, there are severe adverse affects to these drugs, and Michael was one of those cases. It was the interferon that did it. So Michael had to stop treatment and his liver got worse. He eventually developed liver cancer.

The next step for most patients is to get on the liver transplant list. After a transplant, patients need to take drugs so their body does not reject the new organ - one of those drugs is interferon. That same drug that gave Michael such severe side affects. So at this point, a transplant is out of the question and he is still infected with the Hep C virus. But Micheal is not giving up. He continues to have hope that science will find a way to help him.

And speaking of help. A few New England Angels read Michael's plea for a ticket and became friendly with him. One was Sheila (left) and another was Oy (right). Together, they worked relentlessly, emailing people who knew people, etc. Todd from AFS was involved; Richard from FOD was involved. I heard about Michael and the extent to which Sheila was going to get him to maybe meet David from my friend Deb. I thought it was a perfect story for my blog so I contacted Michael and asked him if I could interview him. I talked to Michael on the phone while I was waiting in line in Lancaster, listening to his story, tears streaming down my face.

Getting Michael a ticket, getting him into the venue at a reasonable hour so he didn't have to freeze (oh, did I mention Micheal is in a wheelchair?), getting him a good spot inside to watch the show, and finally, beautifully, heart-achingly getting him to meet David was a team effort. And I was blessed to witness it.

So after the concert, I finally got to meet Michael. I walked to the back of the venue where he had been sitting and we just gushed, of course. You may know this, but after each show, Jeff just sort of hangs around, the band eventually comes out to sign autographs and meet people. The venues let you hang around for a little while, maybe 30 minutes or so, and then security starts to move people out the door. During this time, Jeff spent quite a bit of time with Michael, listening to his story. I'm not sure he knew the whole thing earlier. I felt like an intruder, but I just couldn't leave; watching Jeff's expression change as he heard about Michael's unfortunate accident was very moving. At one point Michael started talking about how David just glows and that his music makes him forget his illness and relieves his pain. Tears, folks, tears all around. Jeff told Michael that David's music goes beyond the physical and that "you can take it with you" - ahhhhhhhh, I had to turn around at that point because I was seriously losing it.

I had met the band a few times over the last few days so brought Mike over to meet Michael. They had a really nice conversation about writing music and working with David. I found Alex too, but Eli and Kendra were elusive. Mike and Alex both signed Michael's CD liner notes and I think he enjoyed talking with them. So at this point Jeff and Ray are directing security to remove people from the venue - I think a few people knew that David was coming out because there was also another boy in a wheelchair who was waiting to meet David. Finally he walks out from a backstage door, followed by Ray and Jeff. I can tell that he's a little confused by the look on his face; not sure what he had been told. He glances around at all of us (probably thinking OK, why are these people here????) but then makes a bee-line for the boy. They speak for a few minutes (the boy had a speech impediment so his family had to translate) and then David comes over to Michael.

I am standing next to them, far back enough so I don't eavesdrop on their conversation but close enough to watch. David's eyes never leave Michael's, and he allows Michael to hold his hand during their entire conversation. I know the exact moment when Michael tells David that he is dying - David's expression changes immediately and tears fill his eyes. He frowns a little, his face becomes incredibly compassionate, and I swear I could feel and see the love just pouring out of David. I know that's corny, but man you had to be there.

David went back and forth between Michael and the boy, signing things, taking pictures, etc. At one point I found myself talking to Ray and Mike about Michael. They didn't know the whole story, so I told them about the unfortunate series of incidents that has lead Michael to this stage. Have you met Ray? He needs to be on top of every little thing at every moment of every day. But at this moment, he was just as sappy as I was; so was Mike for that matter.

A few minutes later, Jeff walked over to David and whispered something. David nodded. Jeff left the room and came back with a drawing that a fan had done of David - David signed it "To Michael - David Archuleta" and then he and Jeff gave it to Michael.

STOP IT RIGHT NOW, MY HEART CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE.

After this night, I am completely convinced that David is surrounded by the most loving, caring group of people he can be. And that's all we ask for, isn't it?