I wish I had the heart to post yesterday, but it was a pretty sad day. Our dear friend Michael Treinen went home to be with the Lord at around 6:30 in the morning. Michael was a remarkable young man, who our entire community will miss.
Many of you may have heard of Michael or have been following his story. He was diagnosed with cancer just before his graduation from high school last year. He had to set aside his plans to go to Arizona State in order to go through treatment, and that decision led to remission in January of this year.
Sadly, his remission did not last long. A month later Michael was again fighting for his life…..a battle he would fight until yesterday morning.
Michael however was not like a lot of people I know who have cancer…….he was very different. Michael, though he had a terrible disease, and though he had no misconceptions of what he was to endure or what could happen to him, chose each and every day to live. And live he did. He took each day as an opportunity to make his mark upon the world. And in all my days, not just as a pastor, but as a person, I have met few like him. He inspired everyone around him, including me. And I have to say that my time with him, though short, was one of the most incredible blessings I have ever been given.
Last night around the high school flag pole, hundreds of people, students and adults alike, gathered to share what Michael meant to them. Michael was the Assistant Coach for the boy’s high school lacrosse team. He had been awarded the night before he died the “2008 Assistant Coach of the Year” for boy’s lacrosse, though he could not be present to receive it. It was quite an honor. Yet Michael really didn’t seem to be about all attention, he just was about making that mark on those he met.
I only met Michael in person on April 19th, the day after I was released from the hospital following my stroke. Oh I knew who he was, because everyone knows him here in Noblesville, but I went out to shake his hand very close to the big “N” on the high school stadium field where we were playing that day. You may remember I am the head coach of the high school girl’s lacrosse team, and my stroke occurred on the week of our first game. When it was clear I would need to be hospitalized and not able to practice or coach, my Assistant Coach Lisa Corry put a call out to our boy’s team for help….and help we got! But guess who was one of the coaches to show up? That’s right, Michael Treinen! And not only did he show up, he showed up every day…even after I returned! He showed up in between chemo and transfusions, never complaining, never calling attention to himself, only working to live his life and to make his mark. He inspired me, and he inspired our team as well.
Last night, our girl’s team was there too, and many of them spoke of how he had inspired them and made them a team, and how important he was in their lives. He walked with them only a little over a month, first to cover for me when I was out, and then at our invitation as an Assistant Coach for us too (after all he was there every day!). And though we have no such award as Assistant Coach of the Year in girl’s lacrosse, I am certain both Lisa and I would be comfortable just conferring on him Girl’s Coach of the Year for Noblesville Lacrosse. God knows he deserves it, for his mark on us all will be ever-lasting.
I will miss Michael, though I know he is in a far better place. I have two sisters there who like him left this earth far too early from battling the same terrible disease, and I rejoice that none of them shall suffer any further. But I can see his mark all around me, in the people he touched, the faces of the girl’s, and even in my own heart. Thanks Michael for showing us all the importance of living each day.
Few people ever live so fully. I thank the Lord for the opportunity we have all had to walk with him, and look forward to being reunited with him again, one day, in heaven.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the tender mercy of God, rest in peace.
Fr. Tom+