Home
Saturday Concert to Benefit Iowa Heart Patient
MASON CITY, IA (May 19, 2004) - First Covenant Church will host a benefit
concert at 7 p.m. Saturday to support a parishioner needing funds to pay
for extensive heart surgeries.
Dave Olson experienced a massive heart attack last December and has been
hospitalized in various facilities ever since. He received a mechanical
heart April 1 to help him survive while awaiting a suitable donor. He is
staying at an apartment near Fairview-University Medical Center in
Minneapolis while receiving therapy and recovering from extensive
surgery, according to a recent story written by the Mason City Globe
Gazette daily newspaper.
According to First Covenant pastor Tammy Swanson-Draheim, Olson has
experienced heart problems in the past, although the December episodes
were the most troubling. Swanson-Draheim said that there were many
incidents during the winter where doctors at Mason City's Mercy Hospital
wondered if he would survive. Olson also spent time in a Des Moines
hospital - a specialist performed an innovative procedure - before the
family headed to Minneapolis this spring. Right now, Olson's heart
damage has been so great that the organ only functions at 15 percent of
its capacity.
The Olsons have been in the community for a long time and have been
deeply involved in many things. Mary Jean works at a school that assists
special needs students and Dave has driven a school bus in the area for
many years. As Olson's plight became known, the close-knit First
Covenant and Mason City communities have responded in a variety of ways.
Mason City has a population of about 30,000, but there are as many or
more living in the outlying areas as people commute an hour or more to
work at a large community college and at Mercy Hospital, two of the
city's largest employers. "We've had a 'You've Got To Have Heart'
committee that has handled the benefit concert and has alerted all of
the local radio stations," said Swanson-Draheim. "Local businesses have
posted the flyers and have put out jars so people can give money to the
cause. A local bank has also opened a trust fund for people who wish to
help."
Along with coordinating the upcoming benefit concert, the church has
helped by providing transportation for the Olson's two children and
caring for them at times while Dave's wife, Mary Jean (known as M.J.),
traveled to the hospital. Swanson-Draheim has received many monetary
gifts earmarked for the Olsons during her six months as pastor of the
church and she knows that many other acts of kindness have gone on
behind the scenes.
"It's been very heartwarming to watch," she said of her church's care
for the Olsons. "There's a passage in John 13:34-35 about how 'they will
know we are his disciples by the way we love one another,' and this
church is living that out in a profound way. The church is really
enjoying helping the Olsons and they are excited to see how the
community has responded. It's encouraging."
For more information on the benefit concert or ways in which individuals
can assist this project, call the First Covenant staff at 641-423-6359.
To read more of Olson's story, visit the Globe Gazette website at
www.globegazette and enter the name First Covenant Church in the website
search engine.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
