I was born in October of 1974 and am the youngest in a family of fifteen children. I was born perfectly normal and was very precocious for my age to the point where I learned how to walk at 9 months. This was so that I could run away from my older brother Paul (Paul is a Downs and a very loving brother) when he teased me. On March 13, 1976 at 18 months old, I contracted spinal meningitis and spent 15 months in intensive care of Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. For most of that time, I could not be off the positive pressure ventilator for very long. I came in and out of comas. For the first time since I had been hospitalized, I woke up from a coma for a few minutes on March 25th (the feast of the Annunciation) and played peek-a-boo with my sister Kathy. Then I went back into a coma and woke up again for good on April 13, 1976. On Easter Sunday of that same year, I took three little breaths for the first time on my own! Then, on July 16, 1976 my diaphragm started to work and I was able to breathe for a few minutes on my own without the assistance of the respirator. I remained on positive pressure and went home in June of 1977. My parents set up 24 hour nursing care for me at home because given the risks of positive pressure, patients using this type of ventilation require constant monitoring. In 1980 a friend of my father introduced me to negative pressure with the Iron Lung and I have lived on negative pressure ventilation ever since.
Our family has always had great devotion to Our Lady and I owe my life to Her. I am in Her hands. All the miraculous healings that have brought me to this point in my handicap, I attribute to Her intercession.
