{Straight From the Heart}   *A Portrait in Courage*  1/18/00           
                                                                                                           

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Happy birthday to my mother-in-law Carole! (January 17)  May she know 
how much she is loved.....
Michael

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A Portrait in Courage

By Jean Fitzgerald


 I want to tell you about a young woman for whom I have the utmost 
respect and admiration. This person was born with a very serious birth 
defect. I don't know if you are familiar with spina-bifida but it is 
an opening in the back where the spine does not grow together properly.
I don't know if you are familiar with hydrocephalus but this is when 
there is an overabundance of spinal fluid and the fluid goes to the 
brain, causing the head to grow. Sometimes a baby will have spina-bifida, 
sometimes they will have hydrocephalus and on occasion a baby will 
have both. This baby had both.

The doctors did not give much hope that this baby would live and the 
parents took her home to care for her when she was 10 days old, not 
knowing what to expect. It was a scary situation but they did better 
than they expected. She needed special care but she was a good baby 
which was a big help. At the age of five weeks her back began to seep 
spinal fluid and they were told to take her to the UVA Hospital in 
Charlottesville, VA. After a week the draining stopped and she was 
sent home.

At the age of three months the draining began again and she was 
taken back to the hospital. This time the doctors could not stop the 
draining and surgery had to be done to close the opening in the back. 
Otherwise there was a risk the baby would get spinal meningitis. The 
child spent 4 weeks in the hospital after surgery and when she was 
released from the hospital her head had grown at the rate of 1/2 inch 
a week. The parents were told that her head would continue to grow and 
she only had three to six months to live. 

So with this hanging over their heads the parents took her home, 
supposedly to watch her die, but full of faith that she could make 
it and live. They put this child in the hands of the Lord and did all 
they knew to do to help her grow. 

Each time the local doctor measured her head he would find that it 
had not grown. She began to eat, not only taking her bottle but 
eating solid food, and she began to thrive. And thus began the fight 
that this spunky little girl would wage over the years.
    At one year of age she was taken to a surgeon in hopes of getting 
her on her feet, but he said she probably wouldn't live to be two 
years old and if she did she would never be 'right'.

She had a homemade walker in which she got around and was able to be 
a little bit independent. She was talking very well before she was 
two, learning her ABC's and spelling her name.

When she was two years old a doctor was found who would try to help 
her get on her feet. She had surgery done on her hip, something called 
closed reduction, where no incision is made but the hip is maneuvered 
into place. She was put into a cast from her waist down both legs. She 
wore the cast for three months after which a metal brace was put on 
her shoes to hold her feet apart. Her parents took her everywhere with them.

When she was three years old she received her first leg brace. After 
a while it was determined she would need a brace on both legs and she 
was fitted with another leg brace. Now she could stand for the first 
time, but of course, she didn't have the balance she needed. She used 
parallel bars, made especially for her to use in her home, and learned 
the walking motion. Then she received a pair of crutches and after a 
lot of falls and a long learning process she was able to walk on her own.

When she was six years old she began school. With a wonderful, 
understanding and patient teacher, problems of her getting about with 
the other children were worked out and she did fine after that.

When she was in high school she worked as a candy striper at the local 
hospital. Over four years she contributed more than 1200 hours, more 
than any other candystriper at that time.    

A year after she graduated she attended Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation 
Center in Fishersville, VA, taking a secretarial course. While there 
she met a young man and they fell in love. She graduated and came back 
to her home and got a job with the local newspaper. She and her 
boyfriend kept in touch and visited each other until he finished his 
course. He went back to his home, took a job with a bank and one day 
when he called her he proposed to her over the phone. She accepted.

In time they were married and she left her home and went to live with 
him in Virginia Beach, VA, over 200 miles away. They both worked and 
became good taxpaying citizens. Without God's help and the fight that 
she had in her she would probably never have lived.

I know this young woman probably better than she knows herself 
because, you see, I am her mother. And she does have my respect 
and admiration for all she has been through and how she has handled 
it. On January 15, 2000, she will be 48 years old and always on her 
birthday I remember the grim words of many doctors, and I thank God 
for all the blessings that have come our way.

Jean Fitzgerald
jfitzger@neocom.net

Send Jean an email and let her know what you thought about her story!

A little bit about Jean:

My name is Jean Fitzgerald and I was 23 years old when my daughter, 
Julie, was born. So now you know that I am 71 years old. I also have 
two other children, a daughter almost four years younger than Julie 
and a son, who was born 22 months later. I think of myself as a 'Jack 
of all Trades' and 'Master of Few' (if any), Because of Julie's 
special needs I was a stay at home mom, dabbling in a few ventures 
over the years. I am a member of Toastmasters International and have 
given this story in a speech at some of our meetings.
About two years ago Julie had to go to a wheel chair. And one year 
ago she had to retire from her job as receptionist and telephone 
operator at a cable company. Just recently I set her up with a 
computer and got her on line so that now we enjoy keeping in touch 
through e-mail. Her e-mail address is jlucord@integrityonline18.com.  
I hope anyone who may read my story can take strength in knowing that 
God can do anything and we should lean on him.

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Thought For The Day:

"If you want to be a leader with a large following, just obey the 
speed limit, on a winding, two-lane road."
(Charles Farr)

Verse for the Day:

"Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over 
you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about 
what is evil."
Romans 16:19

Kid's Thought For The day:

"When you bring a salamander to school, you find you have lots of 
friends you didn't even know about."

Parent's Thought For The Day

"Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them."

Coach's Thought For The Day

"The world is divided into people who do things and people who get 
the credit."

Deep Thought For The Day:

"Ending a sentence in a preposition is something up with which I 
will not put!"  
Yoda's High School English teacher.

  _
/_/\/\    MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\  /    THUNDER27@aol.com   http://members.aol.com/Thunder27/index.html
/_/  \    "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \   Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body I live for the Son
   \_\/   of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."  Galatians 2:20	

 

"I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch the video 
we gave them. They loved it, to say the least!  Within thirty 
seconds my mom was crying and my dad did too.  They said it was 
the best Christmas gift we could have given them!!  You did such 
a beautiful job!  They were so suprised and so touched---they 
really, really, really loved it.  Thanks for helping to make it so 
special to us all.  My mom mentioned how the songs were perfect for 
the video too!  Thanks again!"
         
Kelli  (RKaGe@aol.com)    College Station, TX 

Let me make you a video from your pictures or home movies!
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 Video Imagery 
http://members.aol.com/Videoimg/index.html