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A Short Film about love. | dG1fOG1aMnpvbXJSd1E
Transcript
00:00 My name is Lorraine McRae Battle.
00:15 I am 67 years young.
00:16 I had my son at a very young age.
00:17 The same year I graduated from high school at 73.
00:18 From the day that I had him, he was born sickly then.
00:19 He had a cyst on his brain.
00:20 He had a cyst on his brain.
00:21 He had a cyst on his brain.
00:22 He had a cyst on his brain.
00:23 He had a cyst on his brain.
00:24 He had a cyst on his brain.
00:25 He had a cyst on his brain.
00:26 He had a cyst on his brain.
00:27 He had a cyst on his brain.
00:28 He had a cyst on his brain.
00:29 He had a cyst on his brain.
00:30 His neurosurgeon used to call him his miracle child because they didn't expect him to live
00:31 that long.
00:32 When I say he had a cyst on his brain, he had water on the brain which made his head
00:33 larger than normal.
00:34 But he functioned, he beat a lot of the odds in him not thinking that he was going to live
00:43 long.
00:44 The day that he passed away, he had been in the hospital for a little while.
00:57 He was real bad off.
01:01 He was on medication.
01:02 They were giving him the highest dosages of his medicine that he could take but they were
01:07 still saying that he was in pain.
01:10 I remember they had all of these machines hooked up on him and they had already said
01:16 that if he lived he would be brain damaged or whatever, stuff like that.
01:20 I didn't want that for him.
01:21 I asked them, could they just go in and talk to our fishermen because that was the only
01:26 people that he had left with me, Eric and Shemika, that was my family.
01:29 I told the nurse that we made the decision.
01:33 I didn't want him to be a vegetable.
01:35 We wanted to disconnect.
01:36 I'd rather you all go in and do it and not wait real long.
01:42 I told them because if they didn't do it, I was going to do it because he was going
01:46 to die anyway.
01:47 So I didn't want him on a machine suffering.
01:51 So before they got there, I held Antoine in my arms and I talked to him because when he
01:58 was born, normally they give you a baby when your baby's born, but by him having a cyst
02:04 on his brain, I never got to hold him that first day.
02:08 So I can remember telling him, I couldn't hold you when you were born, but I'll hold
02:14 you till you die.
02:16 They took the stuff.
02:18 I was holding his hand when he took that last breath, but it was okay with me because he
02:25 wasn't going to suffer no more.
02:27 He'd been in and out of the hospital those last few weeks.
02:31 They couldn't say what was wrong with him.
02:33 They didn't know.
02:35 And I just figured, you know, God was ready for him.
02:39 Antoine, like I told you in the previous one, he lived a good life.
02:43 It was hard making that decision, but you don't want your child to be a vegetable.
02:49 And like I said, I had to hold him until he took his breath.
02:53 And I think he knew I was holding him.
02:55 [Music]
03:16 Oh wow.
03:18 Look at you.
03:20 Him with his Santa Claus.
03:25 [Music]
03:39 This is his first picture that he made.
03:42 After he got out of the hospital, he'd already had surgery.
03:47 I don't know where the pinions are.
03:50 May 31st, 1973, he wore this home.
03:56 That's when they let him come home.
03:58 He was born April 22nd, but he had to stay in and have surgery.
04:04 So my first mother stayed a year and spent in the hospital with him.
04:11 Lord, thank you for my baby.
04:13 Thank you.
04:17 Just like that, he's gone.
04:20 [Music]
04:37 I cut his hair on this picture.
04:39 I gave him those.
04:41 We grew up together.
04:43 Yes.
04:45 You loved your mother and your sisters.
04:49 You went out of your way to protect us.
04:51 I love you, baby.
04:53 I love you.
04:56 But you were here just for a moment.
04:59 I got 34 years running, Lord.
05:01 Thank you, Lord.
05:03 Those were the best 34 years.
05:05 I wouldn't trade them.
05:07 No matter what hard times we went through, I wouldn't trade it for a minute, for nothing.
05:14 I was scared at first.
05:17 When you were born because of the cyst, I didn't know if I could handle it.
05:22 But my mother was there, Rosalie.
05:25 We handled it.
05:26 You did really good.
05:29 I'm so proud of you.
05:31 Truly, I am.
05:33 [Music]
05:44 And your baby's first Christmas.
05:49 Wow.
05:51 [Music]
06:00 I brought some presents that you got.
06:03 You got some suits.
06:05 You got a drum.
06:06 This must have been your first Christmas, a horse.
06:09 You had a wonderful Christmas.
06:11 That made me smile.
06:13 Okay.
06:15 [Music]
06:22 In the name of Jesus, we are praying.
06:25 The Holy Ghost Spirit bless us all.
06:28 Amen.
06:30 I would like to say I'm thankful for the gathering that we're having this evening.
06:34 I'm thankful for my family.
06:36 Even though they're looking at me like I'm crazy, I'm truly, truly blessed.
06:40 Because we never know what next Thanksgiving will bring.
06:43 Amen.
06:45 Again, my family means a lot.
06:49 It means everything.
06:50 I can't describe in words what it means.
06:52 I would go to the moon and back by myself and my family.
06:58 And they are my world.
07:03 I am afraid of death.
07:06 Why? I don't know.
07:07 I think maybe because I'm scared I'll miss my family that I have here.
07:13 And I just love my kids and my family so much.
07:16 I just love y'all so much that I think I need to be here to still guide Erica and Shameka even though they are grown.
07:25 I think I need to be here to answer their questions when they call.
07:30 I think I always need to be here to be there.
07:33 I have to have my shoulder to cry on when Erica calls and says, "Mommy, I need someone."
07:37 I think I'm the one that needs to be there for them.
07:41 So, yes, I am scared.
07:45 Last question.
07:47 What advice would you give to anyone struggling with the death of a loved one?
07:51 I would tell them to seek help, seek therapy, seek other family members, talk to people.
07:58 Even if it's a stranger, sometimes you can talk to the person that stranger might just listen.
08:06 Sometimes you just need a listening ear.
08:08 You don't need advice. You just need a listening ear.
08:10 When the death of a loved one comes, you do have to seek some type of help.
08:15 It's praying, asking God to just help you get through it and all.
08:20 It hasn't always been a hard, I mean, an easy life.
08:24 And it hasn't always been hard, but it's been a trying life.
08:28 And it's a life that I've learned a lot from.
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