Month: September 2010

I was doing some video editing at church when patti called me and told me to turn on the news. “what channel?” i asked. “any channel” was her reply. I don’t quiet remember me feelings from that day. i saw the first plane stuck inside one of the twin towers on tv and kept thinking to myself man that’s going to be tough to fix up. it was almost disbelief when i saw them fall.
a while later i went up to NYC and while walking around the business district, came up to a part of town that was strangely quiet. now, there is always noise around the city. traffic, people, cars, construction. but this construction area (which were everywhere). All of a sudden it struck me where we were. right in the middle of ground zero. the huge draping flag covering a hole in a building, the wreaths and memorials setup on the iron fence of a near by church.
as vivid as the day this first happened still sticks in my mind, a day that comes through even clearer was 9-12-01. The days afterwards. people donating blood, putting flags up everywhere. a common sense of patriotism and respect for each other and a new respect for human life. it gave us a new hope that we are not going to be taken by fear. that those who wish to spread terror are not going to win. as much as our world has changed post 9-11, hopefully we can remember that the greatest change is not in the hole in the middle of ny, but the change made in ourselves. as we learned about what we can accomplish just by being americans.

A few weeks ago, i joined Patti visiting one of her friends that she’s been keeping in touch with. LouLou first came into patti’s life around june of this year. She had already worked on the book for John Keller as well as the website and videos. She then went on to work on Ashley’s website, then came in contact with Diego and that family. LouLou has acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL ) acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Not only is she fighting these two rare forms of leukemia, but she’s only 10 years old. Patti got in contact with her and her family. She created a website for her and would visit her regularly.

So fast forward to a few weeks ago.  Someone in LouLou’s family was having a birthday so Patti decided to surprise loulou and going to visit her at her home during the party.  She wanted to get some video footage to work on a video for her so i joined along.  When we pulled up to her home, there was several kids riding around on bikes.  LouLou was easy to pick out of the crowd with her head scarf.  The family was a typical hispanic family with lots of food and plenty of hospitality.  Even though we were obvious out-siders, we were welcomed warmly.  We did the interview in her bedroom.  No different any other 10 year olds bedroom.  Colorful walls, stuffed animals, pictures of friends and family, stuff from school but as i took footage of b-roll, among the silly bands and hello kitty were also syringes, medicine and other medical supplies.  As normal and lively as she appeared, it was hard to forget that his was one very sick child.

The drive home that night was silent.  i was overwhelmed with the fact that we were blessed with children who were healthy.   I myself have taken so much for granted.  We got to speak with LouLou’s parents for a bit and they were full of faith and hope.  Proud of the strength and courage of their daughter and inspired by her faith.  I couldn’t help but realize that i couldn’t be that strong.  Working at the radio station, i did about 5 or 6 radiothon’s for st. jude and always heard stories about sick kids and what they were going thru but they were always about someone else.  No body that i ever really knew.  There was never a real connection.  This time this was someone who i visited with and actually got to see face to face.

Patti got a text today from LouLou’s dad that she had been admitted to the ICU in critical condition.  Please keep her in your prayers.  And remember her mom and dad, David and Veronica too.