News

Pocahontas mother draws strength from her faith in trials

Prayer gets caregiver through family illness and incarceration

Published: October 25, 2008   

By Susan Thielemier
Pocahontas Correspondent

Susan Thielemier

Regina Baltz (right) poses in this family photo with her husband, Lawrence and daughter, Christy, at their home in Pocahontas.

Susan Thielemier

Regina Baltz (right) poses in this family photo with her husband, Lawrence and daughter, Christy, at their home in Pocahontas.

Mustering her courage, Regina Baltz, 68, takes a deep breath and prepares to meet a new day. She reaches for her rosary beads, spends time with her Lord to gain the courage and strength for the task at hand.

It's been 45 years since she and Lawrence vowed to love, honor and cherish in sickness and in health.

In 1992, Lawrence, at age 52, suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on the left side. The following year came a heart attack, requiring bypass surgery, and last year the family received the ultimate blow when Lawrence was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.

Life had certainly thrown some curves since those 1963 wedding vows, but Baltz contends the trials have strengthened the ties that bind.

She said her eldest son, Allen, 44, comes over and helps out a lot, as well as, her daughter Christy, 39. The family attends St. Paul Church in Pocahontas.

"It's such a blessing that I still have Christy at home," Baltz said. "She stays with her dad a lot. Being a caregiver can be so draining. I just get so tired. I'm so grateful he can still get around, but he's fallen twice."

Since his most recent diagnosis, Lawrence has been hospitalized four times with pneumonia and twice to undergo rehabilitation.

"It sometimes seems like about all I've ever done in my adult life has involved hospitals," Baltz said.

Those hospital stays began 10 years into her marriage, when then 4-year-old Christy was diagnosed with acute leukemia.

"You just feel so helpless," Baltz said. "All we could do was pray."

Thirty months of weekly chemotherapy followed, combined with radiation treatments and blood transfusions.

"She went through it and then she was in remission," Baltz said. "She's still in remission. She has never had a relapse. It's been a miracle from God."

Yet, the cost of the cure can sometimes be high. In 2001, Christy was diagnosed with Hepatitis C as a result of the transfusions.

"You know, back then they didn't test the blood the way they do now," Baltz said. "Her condition is something that has to be continually tested because it could develop into cirrhosis of the liver."

A few years later, Christy began having seizures, which they later learned was because of multiple exposure to radiation. This left the then 37-year-old unable to drive. And still, Baltz refused to be bitter.

"You know, you just have to have faith," Baltz said. "There's a reason for everything. I get tickled sometimes at Christy. Something will happen and she'll roll those eyes and say, 'Lord, when is this ever going to end?' But you can't do things like this on your own. I've learned to turn everything over to the Lord. And I believe that something good comes out of everything you face."

As Baltz learned when she was faced with the most difficult trial of her life when son, Larry, got involved in drugs.

"Drugs are worse than cancer," Baltz said. "During his senior year of high school we put him in rehab. It didn't help him, but it helped me. It was during this time that I really surrendered to the Lord. You know, you think you can handle anything and then you discover that you can't. God literally saved my life."

In the years that followed the drug problem escalated, resulting in a failed marriage and incarceration for Larry, leaving Baltz to raise two grandchildren and come to terms with her son's situation. Baltz chooses to look for the good.

"If he hadn't went to prison he would probably have lost his life or taken someone else's," Baltz said. "He's now turned his life over to God. He reads the Bible daily. Drugs are the worst thing a person can go through. With the cancer, you can take them to the doctor and try to get help. It's so much harder to help someone with an addiction. All you can do is turn it over to God."

Larry Baltz, 40, served four years of a 10-year prison term for drug offenses. Currently he is at the Mississippi County Work Release Center, which is run by the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Regina Baltz said, through her daughter's help, she still manages to work 8-to-20 hours a week for American Greetings, which helps her step away from the situation from time to time.

She still remains active in church and community activities when time allows. She and Christy go to St. Paul's Monday night bingos, which benefit St. Paul School.

Judging from the big smile on her face, one would never know the turmoil she carried within.

"You know, life is a hard road, but you can't give up," Baltz said.

At the end of the evening Baltz returns home, cares for her husband and prays before turning out the light. She offers the Lord thanksgiving for the day and for the strength and joy he brought into it.

"If you will turn your burdens over to the Lord, he will turn them into treasures," Baltz said. "It's during the tough times that you have this great need for God. And he doesn't disappoint. He becomes your best friend and that's what I call amazing grace."