For the past seven years, I have had the privilege of working with Russ Rooney, a Minnesota businessman and faithful pro-lifer who heads up Life Legal MN under the Life Legal umbrella. Life Legal MN is a group of attorneys who handles cases in the Twin Cities area. Each year, Russ organizes a special dinner to honor local pro-life leaders. This year, he couldn’t attend the event because he had to have emergency brain surgery. Russ is still recuperating, but he shares the following moving account of his experience – and the reason he suffered a debilitating brain injury:
“For Christians, Lent is a time to remember our dependance on God through our prayers, fasting and assisting others.
During Lent and not long after I had a craniotomy, a friend left a message hoping I was having a meaningful Lent. My friend had no idea how unusual this Lent was for me.
The Lenten experience I had was enhanced by a fall I had in January.
After testifying at a state senate hearing, I was dwelling on how abortion may soon be allowed up to birth with no restrictions. In retrospect, I focused too intently about what was likely and what did occur.
Before I got out of bed on a Saturday morning, I had envisioned how excruciatingly painful it would be for a child in the womb to be dismembered.”
This is what happens when God allows someone to imagine the gruesome reality of abortion in palpable terms. Most of us automatically compartmentalize these emotions – not because we want to be hardened to the horror of abortion, but because our brains can only process so much trauma before something has to give.
Please take a few moments to read about Russ’ experience and to pray for his complete recovery.
In addition to serving as our boots on the ground in Minnesota, Russ also hosts “The Rooney Report” for Life Legal – a series of interviews with pro-life leaders like Shawn Carney of 40 Days for Life, Joe Scheidler, and many others. You can watch the videos here, or listen to the podcast versions here.