by Eric Tetens
Not just as simple as when you leave a room, a job, or a neighborhood, but when your last days are not decades away, but merely months? That is the question that David Lee Lerner, the creative and financial driving force behind the Medicine Buddha application available for free globally via iTunes, had to answer.
David’s path to creating this app started with a walk along Lake Michigan in March of 2007. This was a favorite walk that he took regularly, with his girlfriend Stacy, to get away from the noise and busyness of the city. It was during one of these walks on an unusually warm spring day that it began. The walk became painful, too painful for words. They were without a mobile phone, and there was no way to wave down a cab with a four foot retaining wall between them and Lake Shore Drive.
Luckily Stacy was a licensed physical therapist. They walked a little, then David lay down on the cold cement and Stacy did her best to stretch him out and alleviate some of the pain. This was repeated until they made their way back home. What should have taken them less than 30 minutes turned into an endurance session.
The symptoms did not go away, in fact they got worse. There were repeated visits to doctors and finally the diagnosis, stage IV prostate cancer that had spread throughout his body. The doctors gave him three to six months to live, he would be lucky to make it to December.
At 43 and in excellent health, this is the last thing anyone would expect to hear. David did not view his treatment schedule as a fight with cancer, rather his cancer was just a part of who he was, working with the disease to slow its progression and enjoying every moment of every day. While going in for treatment he saw a large cross section of the people who were similarly afflicted. People who were scared and in pain, just like David. He was a faithful listener of the Daily Buddhist Prayers ~ something to focus on in times of calm and in times of distress or anxiety. While he was often times in great pain from the ravages of the disease he would listen to these Prayers for calming and comfort, especially in the middle of the night when sleep proved difficult.
Not letting prostate cancer get the better of him, David continued to work and live his life to the fullest. December 2007 came and went and David was still standing under the heavy assignments of radiation and chemotherapy. As the disease ate away at his body, his soul grew that much stronger. He proposed to his longtime girlfriend Stacy on Christmas Eve of 2007 and they wed on April 5th of 2008. He moved from Chicago to Omaha and started a new life.
He continued to listen to the Daily Prayers and had the Medicine Buddha nearby at all of his medical appointments for comfort, peace and guidance.
An idea came to him…wondering if the creators of the Daily Buddhist Prayers would consider creating an application for the iPhone for the Medicine Buddha prayers?
So, he sought out the developer to see if he would consider creating this application. After just a few conversations, they agreed and David was excited about the project. He spoke passionately about how special it would be to him if he could fund this application and bring comfort, peace and guidance to the world. Upon learning David’s condition, the developer, Thupten N Chakrishar of buddhistapps.com dropped all his project and devoted full time working on the project.
As the work accelerated on the project, so did David’s disease but his spirit was strengthened. On March 14th he realized a dream when he took his Bodhisattva Vow via the internet from the Chicago Shambhala Center. A little over two weeks later, early in the morning on April 3rd David entered the hospital in desperate condition. The medical staff stabilized him, but there wasn’t much time left. He continued to oversee the app, this time dictating his instructions via email.
On Thursday, April 8th (his wife Stacy’s birthday), with the great help of the Thupten and a friend in Chicago, David got to see the application in full view via live internet broadcast while surrounded by a few close friends and family. David had tears in his eyes and happiness in his heart that this dream became a reality and he was able to witness it prior to his death. He was especially happy to see the dedication read to his wife by the Thupten from New York.
“I dedicate this app to my wife Stacy Lynn Lerner, who through her love and commitment heals me every day. She showed me the way of compassion before I had even drank one ounce of the dharma. She lives an exemplary life with a heart full of patience, understanding and passion. She has my respect and complete love for this and all future lives. Peace my sweetheart.”
David passed away in his sleep on Sunday, April 11, 2010 with family by his bedside. The Medicine Buddha app, his lasting legacy, is available for free to the world on iTunes.
The Medicine Buddha Application for iPhone was created by Thupten N Chakrishar and his team of Buddhistapps.com. They are a Buddhist application development company for mobile devices.
The creation of this application was also greatly supported by Yangbum Gyal, TMD, David’s Tibetan Medicine Doctor and a good friend.
