FLOWING- Joon Y. Lee

Theme:  A father’s desperate situation leads him to act wrongly on impulse, but is met with an unexpected proposal that saves his son’s life.

Premise:  In the town of Shelley, Idaho, there is a single father named Mark who has been raising his son Benjamin for the last 11 years.  Benjamin’s mother was killed in a car accident shortly after his first birthday.  Mark works as a 12^th grade history teacher, but has taken a temporary leave from teaching because Benjamin is hospitalized and is in need of a replacement heart.  He has taken out all his savings and loans to pay for Benjamin’s extra hospital bills thus far and does not have a lot left.  He is told that in order to perform a heart transplant on Benjamin, it will cost nearly $700,000.  Mark has held plenty of fundraisers and taken in donations from all around, but he is way short of what it will cost to save his son’s life.  He ends up taking a toy gun to a nearby Subway and asks the cashier to put money into a trash bag.  Mark ends up breaking down in tears before he receives anything and one of the customers approaches Mark and starts discussing his situation with him.  This young customer named Thomas is a successful CFO of a professional sports team overseas and he happened to have a suitcase full of cash equaling half a million dollars.  Having lost his wife to cancer, he feels sympathy towards Mark and decides to donate his money to him.  Thomas suggests to the workers and the other customers that they forgive Mark since no one was hurt and offers each one a check equaling $5,000 to not report this incident.  Mark is shocked at the unexpected offer but is grateful and is able to continue Benjamin’s treatment.

Program:  This story shows the program of selfless giving and hope in the least expected situations.  Although Mark was wrong in deciding to unlawfully demand funds in order to pay for his son’s heart transplant, there was a man who overlooked all this and became Mark’s savior.  The extreme generosity and act of compassion by Thomas is unbelievable as it saves the life of Mark and his boy Benjamin. 

Treatment:  Mark has had many painful memories in his life, including the passing of his wife, the mother of his 12-year-old son Benjamin.  On top of this Benjamin becomes extremely ill and is hospitalized.  The doctors inform Mark that his son is in desperate need of a single heart transplant.  Without this, he will not survive.  The major problem is that it will cost about $658,000 for this operation, which includes the cost of obtaining a donor heart, at an average cost of nearly $90,000, about $23,000 in evaluation fees, $40,000 for doctor’s fees, $93,000 in post-operative care, and over $29,000 for immunosuppressive prescription medications.  As a high-school teacher, Mark cannot easily afford any of these costs.  One night, he becomes really depressed as he sits in Benjamin’s room and fidgets with his belongings.  Mark is not able to fall asleep this night and as the sun starts to peek out, he picks up Benjamin’s small toy gun and walks out of the house.  Mark drives out of the town and stumbles across a Subway restaurant.  In complete zombie mode, he gets in line and stares up at the menu.  Mark moves lethargically as the line starts to move.  He is greeted and asked what kind of sandwich he would like, and then he pulls out the toy gun out of his pocket and tells the worker to put all the money of the restaurant into a trash bag.  The two workers do not move at all and are scared.  The two customers ahead of him are frozen as well.  Mark cannot believe what he is doing and is disappointed in himself as a teacher and father.  He does not even repeat himself, but starts to cry and his knees give out.  There is a young man eating his sandwich at the table on the right of Mark that decides to approach Mark as he notices that the gun he was holding was simply a plastic toy gun.  This successful business man, Thomas, puts his hand on Mark’s shoulder and tell him that everything is okay and asks him to tell him his story. Mark spills out everything as everyone watched and gained back their composure realizing that Mark is not a threat to them.  Thomas feels unbelievable compassion towards Mark and tell him that he is a rich man with a lot of money and would like to donate his half million dollars to him and will cover the rest of Benjamin’s fees later.  Mark is in awe at such an offer and decides to take it.  Thomas offers to write a check for $5,000 to every individual in the store, but in return, they must forgive this desperate father and let this incident go unnoticed. 

Behavioral Composites:

-Mark has a sleepless night knowing that there is nothing he can do in his power to pay for Benjamin’s hear transplant.  He is not in his right mind and picks up a toy gun of his son’s and walks out the house.  He hopes that going out with this “tool” and simply “asking” for money would take care of his financial situation and save his son.  He has no idea what he is doing or what event will occur that will change his life.

-Mark has a breakdown in the restaurant that he first attempts to “rob,” but meets his unexpected savior name Thomas who decides to save him and his son’s life.  Having lost his wife himself, Thomas shares a common painful experience with Mark, but more than that, he has a unbelievably giving heart.