[BobbyB]

Neighbors plant seeds of friendship for stricken friend
Mike Maple/The Commercial Appeal

Debbie Smith of Germantown, who suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease, found out just how many friends she has when members of the community joined to create a garden in Smith's front yard to cheer her. Among the helpers are (from left in foreground) Mary McDaniel, Teresa Moore and Donna Garrett.


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By Clay Bailey
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April 13, 2007

The garden in Germantown is beauty and love. A ray of sunshine and a breath of enjoyment for the ailing woman inside the house at 3055 Ashmont.
It represents peace and hope for Debbie Smith at a trying time in her life. Smith, 50, has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- Lou Gehrig's Disease. She was diagnosed in August, and it has stolen most of her physical abilities.



The garden is her visual escape, but also is the centerpiece of a community spirit that has helped Smith and her family deal with challenges they face balancing everyday life with the emotions of a deadly disease.
"Things have happened that are just unbelievable, even in the midst of all the pain and stuff we've gone through," Mike Smith, Debbie's husband, said of the offers to help.

Debbie Smith wanted the garden for some time. Just something with a few flowers to transform the desert-like front yard into a display of color, blooms and greenery she could enjoy from the bedroom, where she spends much of her time. A little circle of flowers around the base of the tree would be fine.

But if a few flowers would cheer up Debbie, an expansive garden might help her feel even better. So with donations from Stringers Garden Center and the talents of Edison Wingate with Artistic Landscape Designs, a group of friends and associates mobilized the helpers to create the garden. Last weekend, about 60 people showed up to work.

"She's always dreamed of this flower bed," said Tammy Garner, one of the women working in the yard Thursday.

The volunteer work isn't exclusive to the garden. The network of helpers includes friends who stay with Debbie while Mike is at work, companies who have donated goods and services and the people who shop for the family and carry out the Southern tradition of cooking when there is a crisis.

"We haven't prepared a meal, other than cooking on the grill or breakfast in about five months," Mike said.

"It's totally awesome the love that has poured forth from everybody," added Mildred Smith, Debbie's mother. "It's too much to fathom that people would do this much."

At this point, if the family needs something, it gets done most of the time. They needed to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, N.Y. FedEx provided them transportation. Debbie wanted to see her daughters Melissa, 17, and Leah, 14, at a national cheerleading competition in Orlando and she was flown there.

The assistance built from a small core of the Smiths' friends to an effort that has brought together people throughout the community. People the Smiths have known through various stages of their lives have returned to help.

Classmates of their four daughters have shown up or formed prayer groups.

The event has even bridged last year's split at Germantown Baptist Church. Members on both sides of the issue are working hand-in-hand to help the Smith Family.

"You open your mouth, you voice the least amount of intent, and they show up," Mildred Smith said. "Next thing you know, it's done."

Debbie wanted a laptop. Done. When she lost the use of her hands, she thought a baby monitor would be efficient. Two showed up immediately.

Then there was the garden.

In the shade of a pair of big trees on Thursday, about 10 women, many of them connected by Briarcrest Christian School, donned their gardening clothes -- warmups, hoodies, jeans and gloves caked with top soil, mulch and a sprinkling of sand. They were completing the mission to give Debbie Smith a visual escape from ALS.

"To me, it's a Garden of Hope," Debbie Smith said Thursday lying in her bed within sight of the accomplishment. "If we don't have hope, what do we live for?

"I see it as the Body of Christ. It was all put together by friends and people who wanted to bless our family. It's beautiful. It's serene and peaceful, and it gives me hope."

-- Clay Bailey : 529-2393