By Tim Woerner / Staff Writer

When 3-year-old Gray resident Molly Jordan met Bryson Ridner of McCreary County for the first time Friday night, the two children couldn’t laugh or play together or even hold hands — genetic diseases having robbed them of their ability to walk or talk.

It’d be hard, however, to claim they were lacking in strength.

More than 250 supporters packed Solid Rock Missionary Baptist Church for a benefit singing — the struggles of Jordan serving as a focus for the community to unite around.

“It’s as simple as this,” Jordan’s father Mark said, “God sends messengers. It doesn’t have to be a man that can preach, it can be as simple as a girl that can’t move. It’s a blessing. She’s touched a lot of people and it just shows.”

Sponsored by Candle Ridge Baptist Church and hosted by Solid Rock Missionary Baptist, eight singing groups and a variety of businesses and civic groups donated time and money to lead churchgoers in praying for a miracle.

“I think it’s inspiring just the way she brings everybody together,” said attendee Phillip Bryant. “The family itself is a testimony the way they maintain their composure when most people would give up and quit.”

Jordan suffers from a neurological disorder called Tay-Sachs Disease while Ridner has been diagnosed with a brain condition known as Canavans Disease.

Tay-Sachs prevents the body from producing an enzyme called Hexosaminidase-A that prevents fatty substances from accumulating in nerve cells of the brain. By the time affected children are 4 to 5 years old, the nervous system is generally so badly damaged they can no longer live even with treatment.

Canavans disease, meanwhile, claims most children it affects by age 10. The absence of an enzyme called aspartoacylase prevents acids around the brain from being broken down, causing deterioration that prevents the brain from communicating with the body.

“It has changed my life,” said Ridner’s mother Melissa. “Everybody loves him. We take it for granted when we are here and able to do stuff normally. It’s made me realize we should appreciate ourselves.”

“We have become her eyes, her voice, her hands and her feet,” mother Bridget Jordan told attendees, “but she has given us more than we have given her. Most people only dream of angels. I get to hold one in my arms every day.”

Mark Jordan said he’d met people from all over the world in learning more about the disease. At a conference in Boston, Mass., he met parents from Guatemala who’d lost two children to the same disorder.

“Molly’s kind of been a rallying point,” Mark Jordan explained. “She draws people like a magnet. I’m known by ‘Molly’s dad’ more than ‘Mark.’ We’re just parents, we’re just doing what we’re supposed to … she’s survived pneumonia six times. Her left lung had collapsed in the hospital in November of 2005. They asked us about ‘do not resuscitate’ and when we went back in the room her lung had reinflated. A pulmonologist said that was impossible, it was a miracle.”

Solid Rock administrators were happy to help arrange the event.

“God’s blessed us with this place and we wanted to help any way we could,” said Pastor Randy Steely.

“The burden got on our hands,” added James Myers. “They were going to have a tough time with the funeral, the father works two jobs … we just started thinking about ways that we could raise money.

“If the Lord’s in it, it’ll work its way out,” Myers continued.

Krogers, Pepsi-Cola, Frito Lay, Grippo, CSX and Colorrama were among groups to help. MacKenzie Morgan, Mountain Heirs, ReJoySing, New Way, True Believers, Smith Family, Victory Bound and Solid Rock Youth Choir performed.

“It just goes to show that people are still caring and compassionate,” added Barbourville resident Doris Broughton.

For more information go to CaringBridge.org.