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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Our View: Trying out the turf ... Council Corner: Addressing Ashland's asphalt problem ... Walking tours take a trip back through time ... Our View: Trying out the turf ... Council Corner: Addressing Ashland's asphalt problem ... Walking tours take a trip back through time ... P.K. HALLINAN Children's author P.K. Hallinan upbeat amid adversity Comment By Angela Decker for the Mail Tribune DailyTidings.com By Angela Decker for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 8, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Angela Decker for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 8, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News Popular children's book author P.K. Hallinan is unstoppable. Often requiring a wheelchair and working through serious pain, he plays his guitar to a small crowd of Rogue Valley Manor residents each week, singing old standards such as “Tammy,” “She's Got You” and “Wayward Wind.” The crowd is clearly pleased, offering warm applause and swaying in their chairs when he sings a favorite. He jokes that the theme for the day must be wheelchairs, since nearly everybody is in one. Hallinan's wife, Jeanne, knows that the residents aren't the only ones whose spirits are being lifted. “I cried last week when we came and I saw how happy he made people and how happy that made him,” she said. “This is an amazing community,” said Hallinan, “every day someone warms my heart.” He remembers a woman who seemed to be sleeping at her meal tray during a performance. “I noticed she was moving her hands, lightly tapping out the beat of the song with her fingers. It was a little message letting me know we had connected in a small way. Wow, that made me smile." Hallinan's use of a wheelchair is fairly recent. Four months ago, he required knee surgery after a fall. Although the surgery itself was routine, he contracted a drug-resistant staph infection that led to three more surgeries to treat the infection and to graft skin, as well as the loss of most of the flesh and some bone in his knee. “Everything that could go wrong seems to have happened,” said Hallinan. “It has been a long journey, and I am probably about two more months away from being marginally close to healed.” To speed up the healing process, Hallinan has daily treatments in a hyperbaric chamber. The treatment involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized tube, which promotes tissue growth. “Two hours inside a plastic tube is very difficult for me because I'm usually an active person, but it's also teaching me a lesson about slowing down sometimes,” he said. Both Hallinan and his wife describe the past few months as a nightmare, though he is quick to point out that his struggles have also given him a different perspective on life. “I definitely have bad days and I get frustrated, but we're all going through something, and this is just life, everybody gets something at some point,” he said. Hallinan, an ordained minister, has written and illustrated nearly 100 children's books and one book for adults, “A Life That Matters.” Others have encouraged him to write about his health issues, but he says he has no intention of doing so. “The story isn't what happened to me, it's what I do with it afterward that matters,” he said. “I don't have much choice but to pick myself up and keep helping others in the best way I can.” So he's continuing his personal ministry, reaching out to people through social media and spending time at places such as Rogue Valley Manor. “God has opened my eyes to the depth of suffering of so many people,” he said. "I feel like I'm using my life properly, and this is the least self-serving way to do it." Throughout his ordeal, Hallinan and his wife have been buoyed by their faith. “People ask me about God causing illness or pain, but I don't think God caused this. I think I fell," he said. "How I handle this, how I use my time and energy for others, that's God's work.” His wife, Hallinan says, has been a force of nature. “I am completely reliant on Jeanne these days, and she has been a rock. She's given up a lot of her cherished independence and has shown so much support and love and fire.” “Some days, I don't know how he makes it out of bed in the morning,” said Jeanne. “But he does, and we pray and we laugh. As long as we have laughter, we're OK." Angela Decker is a freelance writer in Ashland and can be reached at [email protected].   By Angela Decker for the Mail Tribune DailyTidings.com By Angela Decker for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 8, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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