Anne Marie Scobey-Polacheck talks about this change in her “Training Wheels” column on Page 4. She describes motherhood – it might apply to fatherhood, too – as intense and intimate, and using the words of author Elizabeth Stone, as a decision “forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”
When her child has a bad day or encounters a difficult situation, the mother internalizes that pain, too, writes Scobey-Polacheck. As a mother, she writes about her search to define the line between where a child ends and where the mother begins. Read her thoughts on the mother-child bond and “the strange sensation of four hearts walking around outside my body” as she parents four growing youngsters.
Also this month, read the amazing story about a local, Catholic family dealing with their 2-year-old’s rare, life-threatening illness. A few months ago, I was moved by the film, “Extraordinary Measures,” starring Harrison Ford playing real life father, John Crowley, who was relentless in his search to find a cure for Pompe disease, the disease which threatened the lives of two of his three children. Pompe disease is a rare (estimated at one in every 40,000 births), inherited and often fatal disorder that disables the heart and muscles.
In the movie, Crowley refused to let the disease that was slowly killing his son and daughter have the upper hand. He was single-minded as he gave up a lucrative job in the pharmaceutical industry to establish a foundation and his own biotech company dedicated to isolating the enzyme that could reverse some of the effects of Pompe disease.
As I watched the story of Crowley’s fight for his children in the movie, little did I realize that a family in our own archdiocese is fighting the same battle for their little girl, Chloe Lundy.
The Lundy family has in part benefited from the research done by Crowley’s company, but they also have another thing in their favor. A devoutly Catholic family, they believe strongly that prayer has made a difference for little Chloe. Don’t miss their inspiring story on Pages 6 and 7.
Finally this month, we introduce you to our second “dad” columnist. Joseph Pirillo, a librarian and father of three offers a glimpse into family dinnertime at the Pirillo household in his column, “As Dad Sees It” on Page 9. Certainly the evening began with the best of intentions, but somewhere along the way, ended with a trip to the emergency room! Certainly many of our readers will relate to his real-life parenting adventure.
