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Carrying on with faith
Son's prayer inspires father coping with cancer to record song he hopes will encourage others facing illness
By William J. Booher
william.booher@indystar.com
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Buzz Bay (top) visits a patient through his work with Americare Hospice in Franklin. Bay, who has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, had to close his florist shop in 2004 due to ill health but later became volunteer coordinator for the hospice. He has recorded a song called "Ryan's Prayer," based on his young son's prayers shortly after Bay's diagnosis. Gary Moore / The Star |
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BUZZ BAY • Age: 49. • Residence: Franklin. • Family: Wife, Susan, 49, a secretary at Johnson Memorial Hospital; son, Ryan, 11, a fifth-grader at Webb Elementary School. • Occupation: Volunteer coordinator for Americare Hospice in Franklin. • Church: Member of Franklin Memorial Christian Church. • Hobbies: Singing and artistic painting in watercolors, oils and acrylics. • Favorite TV show: "CSI: Las Vegas." • Favorite movie: "Pretty Woman." • Favorite food: Macaroni mixed with tomatoes. TO HELP • What: Effort to raise $2,500 to produce 3,000 CDs of the recording of Buzz Bay's song, "Ryan's Prayer," which also would contain his inspirational message about living with cancer. He would make them available when he talks to gatherings of people diagnosed with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. • Larger donations: Tax-deductible donations of $250 or more may be made to Never Too Late, 8538 Tidewater Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46236. The not-for-profit Never Too Late strives to fulfill wishes of ill adults, in this case for Buzz Bay's CD wish. • Smaller donations: May be made to Ryan's Prayer CD Fund, Main Source Bank, attn: Greg Taylor, bank president, 597 Banta St., Franklin, IN 46131. |
On an August day in 2000, Buzz Bay's life changed forever.
Buzz Bay (top) visits a patient through his work with Americare Hospice in Franklin. Bay, who has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, had to close his florist shop in 2004 due to ill health but later became volunteer coordinator for the hospice. He has recorded a song called "Ryan's Prayer," based on his young son's prayers shortly after Bay's diagnosis. - Gary Moore / The Star
Physicians told him he was suffering from an incurable form of cancer called non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, he said.
Bay, 49, said he didn't ask physicians how long he had left to live. "I wasn't going to be told. I just will not accept that."
Just a few days after the diagnosis, Bay heard his young son, Ryan, in their Franklin home praying for God to let his dad live.
"He was saying his prayer so matter-of-fact, so childlike," Bay said.
He said he was impressed that Ryan, now 11, has not wavered in his belief in prayer.
Ryan, a fifth-grader at Webb Elementary School in Franklin, said his prayers were for his dad "so he wouldn't die."
"If he can do it, I can do it, have that kind of faith," said Bay, a member of Franklin Memorial Christian Church, where he married his wife, Susan, 25 years ago and where he now sings in the choir.
Inspired by his son's prayers, Bay wrote a song he titled "Ryan's Prayer."
Recently, Bay decided to pursue his desire to have the song recorded.
The not-for-profit, Indianapolis-based Never Too Late, which strives to fulfill wishes of ill adults, began a fundraising effort to help Bay, said its founder and president, Bob Haverstick.
Bruce Buchanan, co-owner of Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Centers, learned from Never Too Late of the need and personally donated $2,500.
Bay's employer, Americare Hospice in Franklin, pledged $1,000.
Van Lawson, a music producer with Sound Kitchen in Nashville, Tenn., greatly reduced song-recording and related costs for Bay.
Bay sang "Ryan's Prayer" with professional backup singers in early March in a recording studio in Hendricks County.
Now, Never Too Late and Bay are hoping the public will donate $2,500 so that 3,000 CDs of the song with an accompanying inspirational message from Bay can be produced by Lawson at a discount, so Bay will have them to offer when he speaks to gatherings of people with illnesses.
Bay has gone through chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments.
A florist most of his adult life, Bay had to close his Forever Flowers shop on Madison Avenue in Greenwood in December 2004 due to ill health after four years as a business owner.
Yet, for the past year he's served as coordinator of volunteers at Americare Hospice and serves as vice president of Discover Downtown Franklin.
Bay is one of five sufferers of chronic illness across the nation who will be featured in a book by Richard M. Cohen titled "Strong at the Broken Places."
Cohen, 58, an author, journalist and former television producer who lives in a New York City suburb, said he has been researching Bay and his four other subjects for two years to capture in-depth how they cope and live with their different illnesses.
He said he learned of Bay from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
"He was a florist, and I knew he was devout and deeply religious. A very serious Christian," Cohen said. "That gave him a particular voice."
Cohen also is author of "Blindsided," a book about his own struggles with multiple sclerosis and colon cancer.
In spring 2006, Bay was interviewed on ABC's "The View." Cohen's wife, Meredith Vieira, was among the show's hosts. Vieira left in June 2006 to fill a spot on NBC's "The Today Show" vacated by Katie Couric.
An appearance by Bay on "The Today Show" to discuss living with chronic illness is being planned.
'Ryan's Prayer'
Buzz Bay, Franklin, wrote this song in honor of his son, Ryan, who prayed that God let Bay continue to live.
"In the quiet of the night, I slip into his room
I watch him sleeping there. Oh his innocence shines thru
Oh how he prayed to you, as he prayed for me
he knew without a doubt you would answer my needs
So Lord I come to you, I don't know what I must go thru
but I will trust in you like I see Ryan do
It seems like only yesterday the words still ring in my ear
when the doctor spoke to me and confirmed my worst fear
There's nothing I can do, but let me say to you
I have seen miracles happen a time or two
So Lord I look to you I don't know what I must go thru
but I will trust in you like I see Ryan do.
Lord, my life has been so wild
I'm gripped with fear that steals my day
but thru the trust of my child
I have seen the fear just fade away
I see a brighter day!
So in the quiet of the night as I slip into my room
and I kneel before you in prayer
asking you to see me thru
It was thru Ryan's prayer that I see how you care
so I humbly bow and ask that you take me there
Take me to the place, where I seek your grace
And begin to trust in you, like I see Ryan do
Lord take me to the place where I seek your grace
and begin to trust in you, like I see Ryan do
Let me begin to trust in you like I see Ryan do
Like I see Ryan do!"
Call Star reporter William Booher at (317) 444-2706.
