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SALT LAKE CITY — When you think 'hospital chaplain,' you probably don't think, 'Harley.' But Jeff Fleming, who rides his motorcycle to work, is a board certified, clinically-trained chaplain with a master's degree in divinity. The facial hair? That's a bonus.
"It becomes sometimes a joke and sometimes a scary thing and, 'Oh my gosh that beard, what could be living in there?' And 'You've got to cut that off,' to 'Oh, it's Santa Claus,' and kids wrapping around my leg."
Fleming visited 18-year-old Joshua who has cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening disorder that damages the lungs and digestive system. "What scares you the most?" Fleming asked.
"Ah, just not knowing," Joshua answered from his hospital bed.
"You just don't know what's ahead," Fleming said.
Fleming is Episcopalean, but the chaplains at Primary Children's Hospital, as a team, are nondemoninational. Joshua's mom, Melissa Searle, who is LDS, finds his friendship vital. "That's our lifeline here."
Fleming said it is his life's work. "There's many things we can't fix, but we can make a terrible situation less terrible."
The chaplains help families during their darkest hour. Often it's through the simple act of friendship that they held with physical, emotional and spiritual healing.
Vicki Pond, another chaplain at the hospital, ministered to a family that lived there for three months with baby Emory.
"Look at Miss Emory. You're awake!" she said, peeking into her crib.
"I think I've always been a chaplain at heart," said Pond, who has seen first-hand the mind-body connection, and said faith helps patients and their families heal. "I remember one night a dad said, 'Oh, you don't really want to hear my story. It's a long story.' I could look at him in full honesty and say, 'Time is what I have.'"
At the hospital they discuss the things that matter most. "Until we engage the heart and the sense of courage and hope and strength and peace, and finding all those wonderful strengths, we're missing maybe the strongest motivator."
Back in Joshua's room as he faces an uncertain future, his greatest concern isn't for himself, but for his parents. "Do you think it's possible for them not to worry?" Fleming asked them. "It's just part of being human. They know the Lord, too. God's there for them."
Searle was in tears. "You don't want your kid to worry about you. You try to be tough. We try not to show emotion, but I think he can sense that."
In Emory's room, Pond bowed her head with the family and prayed. "Our Father in Heaven, we are so grateful for this beautiful moment in time..."
For families facing the unimaginable, these spiritual leaders, however unique, make heaven seem not so far away.
