There was an article in the NY Times this morning about the opening of the new Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Westchester County. The beginning of the article, describing how this new hospital came about and why it was named after Maria, made me terribly sad.
The parents of the dead girl, Brenda and John Fareri of Greenwich, Conn., helped build the new hospital after they found the existing pediatric department lacking in accommodations for anxious families.
When 13-year-old Maria was dying of a rare case of bat rabies in 1995, the couple felt she received top-flight care. But there was no way for them to sleep in her room, no place to shower, nowhere to share a cuddle.
"It was very difficult because she asked me to lie in bed with her, but her bed was too small," Mrs. Fareri said during a tour of the hospital earlier in the week. That moment of closeness "got taken away," she said. "So you would never want to think that that could happen to another family."
Holy sh*t. All that dying little girl wanted was her mother to lie in bed with her and she couldn't. If that does not touch you, deep, deep down inside . . .
I read this at around 5:00 this morning. Why was I up so early? My daughter woke me at 4:15 because she "needed an extra hug and a kiss". I gave it to her, of course, but was not thrilled to have that sleep snatched away. I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to go back to sleep. So I went downstairs and rode the recumbent stationary bike with the newspaper and kind of grumbled to myself about being awakened so early.
I bet Mrs. Fareri would give everything she owns to have traded places with me this morning at 4:15. I don't mind being up so early any more today.
Posted by Random Penseur at June 4, 2004 07:57 AM