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 Just six days ago, on a Sunday night, I was talking on the phone to my sister when an email came through on the computer in front of me. it was a friend of mine asking what I knew of José's condition. Not knowing what he was talking about I checked the news, and there was the headlines -- East Timor's President (and the Chairman of TheCommunity.com's Advisory Board) was shot in an assassination attempt.
I'm still not sure what happened in the next hours. I know I called some of my friends who have also worked closely with him and broke the news. I got on the phone to people in East Timor to try and get data. I scoured news stories for clues. I tried to hold the room still.
There wasn't much time to cave in. I got in touch with a friend of mine who was in Australia, one of his foreign policy advisors, who had information direct from the doctors and family. I was relaying the information and before I knew it i was Grand Central Station for information for about 50 people. This was a good thing. José has been a close friend of mine for about seven years. I had talked to him on the phone, ever so briefly, the week before, arranging a birthday gift for a mutual friend. He had been there practically at the beginning of TheCommunity.com and has helped to shape this organization and web site all the way along. Luckily, I had little time to be sitting around thinking about what would be lost if he was gone.
He has been in an induced coma for the week while doctors removed two bullets, one of which was lodged in his lung. As of Monday night, the word from the doctors, though it wasn't reported in the press, was that he had only a 50/50 chance of survival. By Tuesday it was better. They had gotten the bullet out of the lung. We waited.
Yesterday I heard word that his son had arrived from Singapore and when he came in, José had opened his eyes and tried to take off his ventilator. It was only rumor though. Last night I spoke to a friend who had just left the hospital with the Australian Prime Minister. She confirmed that he had, indeed, woken up three times, and had spoken. He was still heavily sedated, still not out of the woods. But he was basically back with us, and he was going to make it.
I realized, as the dark clouds passed overhead and the sun started coming out again, what an incredible experience it's been, knowing this person. This Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, this giant. And what amazing doors working with this group had opened in my life. I thought it was about time I started sharing some of those experiences. And this was a good place to start.
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