About Joel A. Bierens
By Tony and Deb Bierens
What a privilege to write a short love song for our son Joel. He was born August 29, 1976, and passed away January 5, 2005. He was our first born and the first boy born into our extended family. He has a brother Justin, 27, and a sister Marissa, 24. Joel was a very typical first child, very precocious and smart. He brought tremendous joy and completion to our lives, and we praised God for him everyday.
His Life was one of great trial, at six months he developed chronic asthma, and all through his childhood he often could not play outside due to not being able to breathe. This was very hard on him because he was very athletic and full of energy, but this made Joel very compassionate for those who were hurting.
As he grew, the asthma stayed with him, and medication helped in many ways. At the age of 15 he was coming home from high school with his friend and he was involved in a serious car accident. The driver of the other car ran a stop sign and almost killed our son. He was seriously Head Injured and was dead at the scene. He was revived and remained in a coma for four weeks. As he slowly began to come up from the coma he was transferred to Mary Free Bed where he remained for eight weeks with only fair rehab potential. God had other plans, and by the ninth week he was home walking and talking. He was left however with double vision and seizures.
He did finish high school and started college in Chicago. He had surgery to correct his vision but the seizures remained and sometimes up to 40 a day. Medication was not helpful to Joel, and the seizures wiped out his memory. He often had to relearn information for his classes.
He transferred to a college in Grand Rapids the following year and continued to search for a neurologist to help him. We did find that doctor and after a year of different testing he had brain surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. The first surgery was nine hours to implant 176 electrodes on his brain to monitor seizures that were occurring. This was very dangerous as it could have cause a stroke. He came through that surgery and after a week of horrible headaches they were able to find the area of the brain that was causing the problem. Another nine-hour surgery was scheduled to remove a golf-ball size area of the brain in the hippocampus area. This area of the brain controls memory of names and other memory sensors. Joel again came through surgery well and after another week and losing 25 pounds he came home to GR and six more years' seizure free.
Joel was now able to drive; he purchased his first house, finished college with honors and was able to stand up for his brother at his marriage in December of 2004. Two weeks from that special day the Lord took him home to heaven. Although devastating for us, he was happy to leave this world and be with Jesus. The legacy he left behind was one of perseverance and courage and deep love for those who struggled. Thank you for remembering him through this scholarship fund. It would bring him great pleasure to know he was helping someone move forward in life.
With warm regards,
Tony and Deb Bierens