Over eight years ago I envisioned a book by men affected by congenital heart defects that would be a companion to The Heart of a Mother. I started with a handful of essays from men I had come to know over time, some had wives who had contributed to The Heart of a Mother, others were simply concerned fathers or grandfathers who found Baby Hearts Press and me. Now, finally, I believe we are coming close to finishing this project.
I have thought in the past that we were close and always something seemed to get in the way. This time last year I thought we would have the book out by Christmas. Then my grandmother fell ill, moved in with my father, got better, made it to my cousin's wedding, became sick again and then passed away in February. It has been a very difficult year for me. This Thanksgiving will be the first Thanksgiving in 8 years where Grandma isn't eating dinner at my house. My only consolation is knowing that she will be with us in spirit and that having my sister and her family, my family and my father present will kind of be a tribute to her. If it weren't for Grandma, none of us would be here. :-)
Dad is working very hard on the book with me since both of us are eager to complete this awesome project. We're still waiting on 3 essays but now I feel certain they will come. I have to believe they will finally be completed because I don't want to publish this book without them.
So that is where we are now. All but three chapters are completed. We have authors lined up to write the Introduction, the Preface and the Foreword. It's been fun reconnecting with the authors, sharing our progress with them and getting some updates. Our children are so beautiful and inspirational. The stories we have to share are going to help others in the CHD community. I only hope that Dad and I have done justice to the words these brave men have shared with us and kept their voice their own. One of my ultimate goals with the books I publish is to keep it real.
I was once interviewed by a reporter for Woman's World. I told her she could publish my story provided I got to okay the final version of the article. She had "Hollywood"ized my story creating a false history of what really happened. I wouldn't allow it to be published and I wondered how many of the stories I saw in the supermarket were distorted like she tried to distort mine. Our stories have enough drama in them. We don't need editors who are going to change what really happened just to sell more books or magazines.
These stories are written by real men. They may not be professional writers by trade, but they have opened up their hearts to share some of the most difficult moments of their lives -- or maybe some of the best moments of their lives. The book covers the gamut -- from births to celebrations of life to descriptions of the unthinkable -- losing a child. I look forward to sharing them with you all soon.
Sincerely,
Anna Jaworski
mom to Joey (17; heart healthy) and Alex (14; HLHS); wife to Frank
author of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: A Handbook for Parents and My Brother Needs an Operation
editor and contributor to The Heart of a Mother
co-editor of The Heart of a Father (in progress)
www.babyheartspress.com
www.congenitalheartdefects.com
Friday, November 7, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
AHA Heart Heroes Conference -- Panama City, Florida
Here is a photo of my father and me at the American Heart Association Heart Heroes Conference in beautiful Panama City Beach, Florida. Professional photographer Jordan Owens was on hand to take photos of all of the families. What a treat!The conference was fantastic. I had a chance to see some former AHA members (Pauline and Gary) and Alex's former cardiologist, Dr. William Blanchard. A real treat was serving on a panel discussion with Dr. Blanchard and having some time to talk to him about Alex.
What an awesome audience! I really felt like all of us connected. During the breaks, I had a chance to meet many of the families and to hear many of their stories. Most notably, there was a mother there of triplets -- all with Tetralogy of Fallot! Two of them were at the conference and they looked healthy and happy (one was visiting with Grandma). Naturally, I saw a number of precious babies and darling toddlers. It does my heart good to see so many happy, healthy children. I know there is so much hope for these little ones.
I think the comment that made me the happiest came from two women who came up to me at the end of my Planning My Bright Future speech. One of the ladies told me that she had been trying to encourage her friend to let her daughter dance. After they heard me talk about Tanya and Donna, this mother decided to let her daughter, with Tetralogy of Fallot -- just like Tanya! -- take dance lessons. :-) That made my day.
It is always fascinating to me how many of us share similar stories. One mother came up to me in a break and mentioned how her child was also originally diagnosed with cystic fibrosis -- not once, but twice! Then the real diagnosis became apparent -- hypoplastic left heart syndrome. I think the reason we parents feel such a bond is because of the similarity of our stories, our emotions and the roller coaster ride we enter once our children are diagnosed.
I hope I am asked back to speak at the AHA Heart Heroes conference next year -- which I hear will be in sunny Orlando, Florida! I encourage all of you Floridians to put this conference on your calendar. Pepper Adair and her able group of helpers really know how to put on a terrific conference and I can guarantee you that a good time will be had by all.
Sincerely,
Anna Jaworski
Thanks to professional photographer, Jordan Owens for the photo of Dad and me! To schedule a sitting with Jordan, visit her website: http://www.jophoto.us
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
American Heart Association Conference
I am so excited to announce that I will be the keynote speaker at the American Heart Association Heart Heroes Conference in Panama City Beach, Florida on October 11, 2008. The title of my speech will be Raising a Child with a Congenital Heart Defect. It's the same title as last year's speech in Miami, but I wrote a new speech just for the occasion. Last year my speech was more didactic. This year my speech is more storytelling -- which is what I do best!
I'll also be giving a speech for another session. The title of this speech is Planning My Bright Future. I revised the speech I gave last year to include some new information. It's one of my favorite speeches to give because I tell some of my favorite stories in it. I love sharing success stories of people I've had the chance to come to know in the CHD world.
I'm eager to make some new friends in Panama City Beach. Attending heart conferences really keeps me connected to the CHD world in a special way. Every time I go to one conference, I find myself seeking out other conferences. I wondered if after Alex was older I would still think about his heart defect. I don't dwell on it like I did when he was younger, but I find myself wondering how my heart friends are doing and hoping that they are leading the same good quality of life that Alex is now. I guess attending these conferences makes me more hopeful than ever.
I'll also be giving a speech for another session. The title of this speech is Planning My Bright Future. I revised the speech I gave last year to include some new information. It's one of my favorite speeches to give because I tell some of my favorite stories in it. I love sharing success stories of people I've had the chance to come to know in the CHD world.
I'm eager to make some new friends in Panama City Beach. Attending heart conferences really keeps me connected to the CHD world in a special way. Every time I go to one conference, I find myself seeking out other conferences. I wondered if after Alex was older I would still think about his heart defect. I don't dwell on it like I did when he was younger, but I find myself wondering how my heart friends are doing and hoping that they are leading the same good quality of life that Alex is now. I guess attending these conferences makes me more hopeful than ever.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Skylar Got a Heart
Dear Friends of the Heart:
The last two months are a bit of a blur. Alexander and I have been conducting robotic summer camps and it's been all consuming. Joseph has been training for and attending swim meets. I had a birthday come and go. And amongst all of these things have been daily updates about Skylar.
A number of months ago I "met" Skylar through his grandparents. They called me when they discovered their unborn grandson would be born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). They purchased books, they talked to me on the phone and they wrote emails. I came to feel a part of this family. I prayed for them, for the baby and for all the people working with Skylar.
Little Skylar has had his Norwood and a number of other procedures. Sadly, the Norwood didn't take and a new heart became necessary in order for him to survive. Knowing how few hearts for babies are available, I worried for the family and prayed all the more.
One week after his parents decided to put him on the transplant list, a heart became available. I know, from having spoken to other heart parents, that this is a difficult decision. Basically you trade one set of problems (living with an imperfect heart) for another set of problems (living with a transplanted heart). What's worse, your child's chance for life is the result of another child losing his or her own. It's a bittersweet moment when the heart becomes available because you know that another family is grieving even while your own family is rejoicing.
What a tremendous gift one family has made to Skylar's family. They selflessly gave their loved child's heart to another family and gave Skylar a chance to live. Now Skylar has a chance to hit the terrible twos, to blow out the candles on his birthday cake, to learn how to ride a bike. Thanks to the caring and loving gift of a stranger, now Skylar has hope.
There is another sick HLHS baby out there that I've been praying for. Cooper is a sick little man. He, like Skylar, has endured too many surgeries for his young age. Like Skylar, he's suffering and fighting a good fight. He's hanging in there right now and just had surgery again today to try to help him survive. God Bless Cooper and his family. I know there are many people who care and pray that he makes it.
Going to swim meets, holding robotics camps and getting ready for summer vacations are all activities that make me forget about the daily concerns that come with living with a baby with HLHS. There was a time when I was in the hospital with Alex and I wondered if he'd be with me tomorrow. I was afraid to leave the hospital lest I receive a phone call that he'd taken a turn for the worse. Would I make it back to the hospital in time? How would I survive if my baby didn't?
I wondered, in those long days in the ICU, if Alex would lead a "normal" childhood. I wondered if he'd be able to ride a bike, roughhouse with his big brother, develop friendships and maybe even someday have a girlfriend. I wondered if he could beat the odds and what I needed to do to see to it that he did. I wondered if I'd ever go a day without thinking about whether he'd be with me the next morning when I woke up.
Time had been kind to me. After many sleepless nights and entire days filled with concern, I was rewarded with months and years of happy memories. There are still concerns at times. There always will be. But there are so many good times, so many times free from heart worries that I feel a need to let other heart parents know that things can get better and someday heart concerns won't consume your life.
Normal for us "heart" parents isn't normal for other parents. We appreciate the small things more than others do. We have a new baseline for what "difficult" or "unbearable" is. We know what really matters and lose patience with others who don't get it. Our eyes are open to the best and the worst that life has to offer. It's not easy and it's not the path that we would have chosen, but gaining wisdom isn't easy. When you have a heart child and you choose to love that child with all your might, and you pray for that child like there's no tomorrow and you believe with a faith that is far beyond yourself, then you become a different person. I'd like to think that all of us who go down that path are a little stronger, a little wiser and little more compassionate. I'd like to think that our children bring us closer to God.
Skylar got a heart. Miracles do happen. May God and the angels of heaven watch over Skylar and his family and may all who are touched by this young life witness this incredible miracle - a life reborn thanks to the kindness of strangers.
Don't take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here. Spread the word.
Peace be with you all.
Anna
The last two months are a bit of a blur. Alexander and I have been conducting robotic summer camps and it's been all consuming. Joseph has been training for and attending swim meets. I had a birthday come and go. And amongst all of these things have been daily updates about Skylar.
A number of months ago I "met" Skylar through his grandparents. They called me when they discovered their unborn grandson would be born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). They purchased books, they talked to me on the phone and they wrote emails. I came to feel a part of this family. I prayed for them, for the baby and for all the people working with Skylar.
Little Skylar has had his Norwood and a number of other procedures. Sadly, the Norwood didn't take and a new heart became necessary in order for him to survive. Knowing how few hearts for babies are available, I worried for the family and prayed all the more.
One week after his parents decided to put him on the transplant list, a heart became available. I know, from having spoken to other heart parents, that this is a difficult decision. Basically you trade one set of problems (living with an imperfect heart) for another set of problems (living with a transplanted heart). What's worse, your child's chance for life is the result of another child losing his or her own. It's a bittersweet moment when the heart becomes available because you know that another family is grieving even while your own family is rejoicing.
What a tremendous gift one family has made to Skylar's family. They selflessly gave their loved child's heart to another family and gave Skylar a chance to live. Now Skylar has a chance to hit the terrible twos, to blow out the candles on his birthday cake, to learn how to ride a bike. Thanks to the caring and loving gift of a stranger, now Skylar has hope.
There is another sick HLHS baby out there that I've been praying for. Cooper is a sick little man. He, like Skylar, has endured too many surgeries for his young age. Like Skylar, he's suffering and fighting a good fight. He's hanging in there right now and just had surgery again today to try to help him survive. God Bless Cooper and his family. I know there are many people who care and pray that he makes it.
Going to swim meets, holding robotics camps and getting ready for summer vacations are all activities that make me forget about the daily concerns that come with living with a baby with HLHS. There was a time when I was in the hospital with Alex and I wondered if he'd be with me tomorrow. I was afraid to leave the hospital lest I receive a phone call that he'd taken a turn for the worse. Would I make it back to the hospital in time? How would I survive if my baby didn't?
I wondered, in those long days in the ICU, if Alex would lead a "normal" childhood. I wondered if he'd be able to ride a bike, roughhouse with his big brother, develop friendships and maybe even someday have a girlfriend. I wondered if he could beat the odds and what I needed to do to see to it that he did. I wondered if I'd ever go a day without thinking about whether he'd be with me the next morning when I woke up.
Time had been kind to me. After many sleepless nights and entire days filled with concern, I was rewarded with months and years of happy memories. There are still concerns at times. There always will be. But there are so many good times, so many times free from heart worries that I feel a need to let other heart parents know that things can get better and someday heart concerns won't consume your life.
Normal for us "heart" parents isn't normal for other parents. We appreciate the small things more than others do. We have a new baseline for what "difficult" or "unbearable" is. We know what really matters and lose patience with others who don't get it. Our eyes are open to the best and the worst that life has to offer. It's not easy and it's not the path that we would have chosen, but gaining wisdom isn't easy. When you have a heart child and you choose to love that child with all your might, and you pray for that child like there's no tomorrow and you believe with a faith that is far beyond yourself, then you become a different person. I'd like to think that all of us who go down that path are a little stronger, a little wiser and little more compassionate. I'd like to think that our children bring us closer to God.
Skylar got a heart. Miracles do happen. May God and the angels of heaven watch over Skylar and his family and may all who are touched by this young life witness this incredible miracle - a life reborn thanks to the kindness of strangers.
Don't take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here. Spread the word.
Peace be with you all.
Anna
Friday, May 16, 2008
Growing, Changing and Miracles
Dear Friends:
May 16, 2008 was a momentous day for the Jaworski family. Last week Alexander and I attended the Texas State Technology Students Association competition in Waco, Texas by invitation of robotics coach, Sam Saenz. Mr. Saenz hosted the 2008 Robofest Cypress this year and I was fortunate enough to be his emcee while Alexander competed in the Sumobot portion of the competition. He was taking his students to this state competition and wanted to meet with us again.
The competition was truly remarkable. It's amazing to me how well middle school and high school students can do when given the right motivation, instruction and opportunities. We saw a few robotic entries, enjoyed seeing improvements made upon the Robofest entries we had seen just the prior month and reading about the students' experiences with their projects.
Perhaps the most wonderful thing to happen to us, though, was when we met with a representative of Texas State Technical College. She was friendly and gave us some information and then she told me that as a homeschooler, Alex could enroll in their dual-enrollment program -- and he wouldn't have to wait until he was 16! Not only that, TSTC has a Robotics program AND a Nanotechnology program. Here is a picture of the entrance to TSTC:
It took us a little while to find TSTC, but now that we know where it is, it will be a cinch to find it again. It's right off of I-35 near the Department of Public Safety building off of Craven. I mistakenly thought it was close to the Unitarian Universalist church we used to attend, but that is McLennan Community College. So I took the scenic route to get to TSTC. :-)
Texas State Technical College is huge! I had no idea there were so many buildings there. We went to the John Connelly building first and then we were quickly redirected to the building we needed to go to. Everyone giving us information was so friendly and inviting. There were school buses on campus because some of the schools had brought students to the college for something akin to an open house.
Alex met with Lucy Price in the administration building and she talked with us for a while. After finding out what Alex's ACT score was (he took the test when he was 11), she asked the Registrar if Alex could be admitted. I had neglected to make Alex take the writing portion of the ACT, so I had signed him up to take the ACT again, this time with writing, in June. Ms. Price said that would be fine and it looks like it should not be a problem for Alex to start school at TSTC in the fall, but she wanted us to meet with a counselor to make sure Alex had all the prerequisites needed. She took us to meet Karen Armstead who was a complete delight.
She and Ms. Price were professional yet friendly. They treated Alex with respect. He really appreciated that. Now he is about as tall as I am. I can't believe my baby is growing up and changing into an adult. I can't believe that next fall I might be taking him to TSTC for his first college course. This all seems to be happening way too fast.
On Thursday we will go back to TSTC. Alex will take their entrance exam (math, English and writing) and that will let us know if he will be officially admitted. At 1:00 we will meet with the head of the Nanotechnology department. Alex is excited about that. Around 2:15 we will meet with the head of the Robotics department. It will be interesting to take a tour of the school and talk with these people. I can't wait to see if Alex really fits in at this college.
Growing and changing . . . if we're lucky our "heart" children will grow and change. One thing I didn't write about (because of my hiatus from writing while grieving for my grandmother) was a very important series of phone calls I had early this spring. For the last 18 months we have been watching and evaluating Alex to determine if he is going to need additional open-heart surgery or possibly a catheterization to try to repair his heart. For 18 months I've been on pins and needles wondering if at any time we'd be driving to San Antonio for Alex to have surgery with Dr. John Calhoon -- the man who worked on Alex's heart twice and saved his life. For 18 months I've put some projects on hold knowing that my life could change, literally in a heartbeat.
Early this spring we met with Alex's cardiologist Dr. Patrick Finnigan in Austin. Again he looked Alex over but this time he exclaimed over how tall Alex had become! I think he is now as tall or taller than his cardiologist. Alex is still thin, but he looks good. Most people would never guess he has a heart defect unless they saw him running around shirtless. Dr. Finnigan sent all of Alex's records to Dr. Calhoon and they had a huge meeting with all of their colleagues at both facilities (Children's Hospital in Austin and University Hospital in San Antonio) and the consensus was: Alex is doing great. Let's not mess things up. Let's look at him again when he's around 18 years old!
Eighteen years old! I was thrilled! Now of course we'll still have visits with the cardiologist every six months to check hish heart, but provided everything looks the same, no intervention will be needed for years. This is a huge relief. Dr. Calhoon believes that if Alex continues to do as well as he has for the last 13 years, by the time he really needs intervention, technology will have caught up to his needs and we'll have something available to help him.
Who knows. As a future graduate of Texas State Technical College specializing in Nanotechnology, Alex could actually contribute to finding something to help himself, and others with congenital heart defects. If that's not a miracle, I don't know what is.
Peace,
Anna
May 16, 2008 was a momentous day for the Jaworski family. Last week Alexander and I attended the Texas State Technology Students Association competition in Waco, Texas by invitation of robotics coach, Sam Saenz. Mr. Saenz hosted the 2008 Robofest Cypress this year and I was fortunate enough to be his emcee while Alexander competed in the Sumobot portion of the competition. He was taking his students to this state competition and wanted to meet with us again.
The competition was truly remarkable. It's amazing to me how well middle school and high school students can do when given the right motivation, instruction and opportunities. We saw a few robotic entries, enjoyed seeing improvements made upon the Robofest entries we had seen just the prior month and reading about the students' experiences with their projects.
Perhaps the most wonderful thing to happen to us, though, was when we met with a representative of Texas State Technical College. She was friendly and gave us some information and then she told me that as a homeschooler, Alex could enroll in their dual-enrollment program -- and he wouldn't have to wait until he was 16! Not only that, TSTC has a Robotics program AND a Nanotechnology program. Here is a picture of the entrance to TSTC:
It took us a little while to find TSTC, but now that we know where it is, it will be a cinch to find it again. It's right off of I-35 near the Department of Public Safety building off of Craven. I mistakenly thought it was close to the Unitarian Universalist church we used to attend, but that is McLennan Community College. So I took the scenic route to get to TSTC. :-)
Texas State Technical College is huge! I had no idea there were so many buildings there. We went to the John Connelly building first and then we were quickly redirected to the building we needed to go to. Everyone giving us information was so friendly and inviting. There were school buses on campus because some of the schools had brought students to the college for something akin to an open house.
Alex met with Lucy Price in the administration building and she talked with us for a while. After finding out what Alex's ACT score was (he took the test when he was 11), she asked the Registrar if Alex could be admitted. I had neglected to make Alex take the writing portion of the ACT, so I had signed him up to take the ACT again, this time with writing, in June. Ms. Price said that would be fine and it looks like it should not be a problem for Alex to start school at TSTC in the fall, but she wanted us to meet with a counselor to make sure Alex had all the prerequisites needed. She took us to meet Karen Armstead who was a complete delight.
She and Ms. Price were professional yet friendly. They treated Alex with respect. He really appreciated that. Now he is about as tall as I am. I can't believe my baby is growing up and changing into an adult. I can't believe that next fall I might be taking him to TSTC for his first college course. This all seems to be happening way too fast.
On Thursday we will go back to TSTC. Alex will take their entrance exam (math, English and writing) and that will let us know if he will be officially admitted. At 1:00 we will meet with the head of the Nanotechnology department. Alex is excited about that. Around 2:15 we will meet with the head of the Robotics department. It will be interesting to take a tour of the school and talk with these people. I can't wait to see if Alex really fits in at this college.
Growing and changing . . . if we're lucky our "heart" children will grow and change. One thing I didn't write about (because of my hiatus from writing while grieving for my grandmother) was a very important series of phone calls I had early this spring. For the last 18 months we have been watching and evaluating Alex to determine if he is going to need additional open-heart surgery or possibly a catheterization to try to repair his heart. For 18 months I've been on pins and needles wondering if at any time we'd be driving to San Antonio for Alex to have surgery with Dr. John Calhoon -- the man who worked on Alex's heart twice and saved his life. For 18 months I've put some projects on hold knowing that my life could change, literally in a heartbeat.
Early this spring we met with Alex's cardiologist Dr. Patrick Finnigan in Austin. Again he looked Alex over but this time he exclaimed over how tall Alex had become! I think he is now as tall or taller than his cardiologist. Alex is still thin, but he looks good. Most people would never guess he has a heart defect unless they saw him running around shirtless. Dr. Finnigan sent all of Alex's records to Dr. Calhoon and they had a huge meeting with all of their colleagues at both facilities (Children's Hospital in Austin and University Hospital in San Antonio) and the consensus was: Alex is doing great. Let's not mess things up. Let's look at him again when he's around 18 years old!
Eighteen years old! I was thrilled! Now of course we'll still have visits with the cardiologist every six months to check hish heart, but provided everything looks the same, no intervention will be needed for years. This is a huge relief. Dr. Calhoon believes that if Alex continues to do as well as he has for the last 13 years, by the time he really needs intervention, technology will have caught up to his needs and we'll have something available to help him.
Who knows. As a future graduate of Texas State Technical College specializing in Nanotechnology, Alex could actually contribute to finding something to help himself, and others with congenital heart defects. If that's not a miracle, I don't know what is.
Peace,
Anna
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Healing
Dear Friends:
I believe we are in a time of healing now. Here is a photo from the Our Lady of the Lake University website:
The OLLU president said, "Our Lady still stands." I believe the faith of the community and the fact that this appears to have been a simple accident, and not an aggressive act against the community, will mean that we can heal from this tragedy. I know I contacted some of my OLLU friends and we are all going to do what we can do to help OLLU. My friend, Beren Gaule, went to the university to help provide counseling to those affected by the fire -- which I'm sure was everyone.
Sometimes bad things happen to good people. No one understands that better than the CHD community. And yet, despite having a child born with a "broken" heart, I think those of us in the CHD world also know how very lucky we are. We realize the importance of everyday. We don't take the little things for granted. We appreciate things that others usually overlook.
Perhaps the same will be true for the OLLU community. We always took the university for granted. It had been there for over 100 years. Surely it would always be there. Now we know how lucky we are to have been a part of something so beautiful and special. Maybe now we will cherish it a bit more than we did before the fire. And like the members of the CHD community, maybe the OLLU community will realize that the most important thing is Life. All of the lives of the firefighters and students and faculty were spared. In the CHD world, when one of our children is spared, it makes us realize how very lucky we are.
My prayers and good thoughts go out to both of these special communities.
Love,
Anna Marie Daigneault Jaworski
OLLU class of 1984 - B.A. in Speech Pathology
I believe we are in a time of healing now. Here is a photo from the Our Lady of the Lake University website:
The OLLU president said, "Our Lady still stands." I believe the faith of the community and the fact that this appears to have been a simple accident, and not an aggressive act against the community, will mean that we can heal from this tragedy. I know I contacted some of my OLLU friends and we are all going to do what we can do to help OLLU. My friend, Beren Gaule, went to the university to help provide counseling to those affected by the fire -- which I'm sure was everyone.
Sometimes bad things happen to good people. No one understands that better than the CHD community. And yet, despite having a child born with a "broken" heart, I think those of us in the CHD world also know how very lucky we are. We realize the importance of everyday. We don't take the little things for granted. We appreciate things that others usually overlook.
Perhaps the same will be true for the OLLU community. We always took the university for granted. It had been there for over 100 years. Surely it would always be there. Now we know how lucky we are to have been a part of something so beautiful and special. Maybe now we will cherish it a bit more than we did before the fire. And like the members of the CHD community, maybe the OLLU community will realize that the most important thing is Life. All of the lives of the firefighters and students and faculty were spared. In the CHD world, when one of our children is spared, it makes us realize how very lucky we are.
My prayers and good thoughts go out to both of these special communities.
Love,
Anna Marie Daigneault Jaworski
OLLU class of 1984 - B.A. in Speech Pathology
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Our Lady of the Lake University Fire
It is with a broken heart that I write a note in the blog today. The beautiful, one-of-a-kind university where I really grew up and went from being a child to an adult caught fire last night. Arson is suspected.
Here is a picture of the university in all its glory:
And here is a picture of it today:
It is inconceivable to me that someone would want to do anything to harm Our Lady of the Lake, any of its students or the beautiful traditions and rituals that are such an integral part of OLLU.
My sister called me last night to tell me OLLU was on fire and it was on television (in Houston). I was on my computer and hadn't watched the news. I was in shock. When I hung up the phone with my sister, I went online and surfed the Internet until I found the story. Tears immediately sprang to my eyes. Part of my past was on fire. My heart sank.
When Alex's heart defect was diagnosed, I called Father John at OLLU to see if he would baptize my baby. Alex hadn't been baptized yet and for us Catholics, baptism is very important, especially when the doctors tell you they're not sure the baby will make it through the night. It just so happened that Alex was admitted to University Hospital in San Antonio the very weekend OLLU was having its Alumni Reunion. It just happened to be my 10th Alumni Reunion, as a matter of fact.
To my surprise, Father John told me that he was too busy to come to the hospital to baptize Alex. He suggested I get our parish priest to do so. Our parish priest was 4 hours away in Gatesville, Texas. Father John wouldn't budge. At first I cried and was distraught. Then I took that as a sign from God that he wasn't ready for Alex yet. I believed that God wouldn't take Alex before I had a chance to baptize him.
Between Alex's first and second surgery, I took Joey and him to OLLU to visit one of my favorite professors, Sister Janet Griffin. When I saw her, I told her about what had happened. She got a look on her face that I remember from being in her class and she told me under no uncertain terms to get myself and my baby to the chapel and baptize him myself. So I did.
Alex is now 13 years old. I baptized both Alex and Joey with holy water from the OLLU chapel. It's hard to believe that was 13 years ago.
I hope all of you will say a prayer for the OLLU community. I'm sure OLLU has touched others like it has me and we will all need to be strong and pull together as a community in order to help it become the glorious university it once was. Burned or not, the heart of the university will live forever as long as alumni, such as myself, remember and cherish that very special and sacred place.
Peace,
Anna
P.S. For more pictures about the fire, you can go to http://www.mysanantonio.com
To see OLLU itself, go to this webpage: http://www.ollusa.edu/s/346/ollu.aspx?sid=346&gid=1&pgid=920
Here is a picture of the university in all its glory:
And here is a picture of it today:
It is inconceivable to me that someone would want to do anything to harm Our Lady of the Lake, any of its students or the beautiful traditions and rituals that are such an integral part of OLLU.
My sister called me last night to tell me OLLU was on fire and it was on television (in Houston). I was on my computer and hadn't watched the news. I was in shock. When I hung up the phone with my sister, I went online and surfed the Internet until I found the story. Tears immediately sprang to my eyes. Part of my past was on fire. My heart sank.
When Alex's heart defect was diagnosed, I called Father John at OLLU to see if he would baptize my baby. Alex hadn't been baptized yet and for us Catholics, baptism is very important, especially when the doctors tell you they're not sure the baby will make it through the night. It just so happened that Alex was admitted to University Hospital in San Antonio the very weekend OLLU was having its Alumni Reunion. It just happened to be my 10th Alumni Reunion, as a matter of fact.
To my surprise, Father John told me that he was too busy to come to the hospital to baptize Alex. He suggested I get our parish priest to do so. Our parish priest was 4 hours away in Gatesville, Texas. Father John wouldn't budge. At first I cried and was distraught. Then I took that as a sign from God that he wasn't ready for Alex yet. I believed that God wouldn't take Alex before I had a chance to baptize him.
Between Alex's first and second surgery, I took Joey and him to OLLU to visit one of my favorite professors, Sister Janet Griffin. When I saw her, I told her about what had happened. She got a look on her face that I remember from being in her class and she told me under no uncertain terms to get myself and my baby to the chapel and baptize him myself. So I did.
Alex is now 13 years old. I baptized both Alex and Joey with holy water from the OLLU chapel. It's hard to believe that was 13 years ago.
I hope all of you will say a prayer for the OLLU community. I'm sure OLLU has touched others like it has me and we will all need to be strong and pull together as a community in order to help it become the glorious university it once was. Burned or not, the heart of the university will live forever as long as alumni, such as myself, remember and cherish that very special and sacred place.
Peace,
Anna
P.S. For more pictures about the fire, you can go to http://www.mysanantonio.com
To see OLLU itself, go to this webpage: http://www.ollusa.edu/s/346/ollu.aspx?sid=346&gid=1&pgid=920
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