This article was on my morning paper...A Healing Endeavor

[Guest guest]

I read this in my morning paper and it is something that we might be

able to use sometime.

A healing endeavor

Former Memphian recovers from heartbreak, uses its lessons to help

sick children

By Biggs

Contact

November 10, 2003

In six years, Fitzgerald lost both her children to a rare

neurological disorder.

Her parents died during the same time.

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Her marriage, unable to withstand the strain of the death of two

children, failed.

Yet after a period of healing, Fitzgerald emerged in 1999 as an

advocate for ill children and their families when she founded Brave

Kids, an organization that serves as a clearinghouse of information

for social workers and families of sick kids.

Now she's brought it to Memphis, although her connection to the city

goes back many years.

" Coming here is very sentimental for me, " she said. " I have dear

friends here, people who were in my wedding. I even named my 10-month-

old puppy Shelby. "

Her story is a heartbreaking one.

Fitzgerald came to Memphis in 1977 and met her husband, former

Memphis Rogues soccer player Roman Rosul.

The couple moved to ville, Fla., married, and a year later she

was pregnant with their first child.

" It was a very uneventful pregnancy and we had a healthy little boy

we named after his father, " she said. " We used to call him Little

Roman. "

But the baby didn't pass his three-month checkup and was referred to

a pediatric neurologist.

" We checked into the hospital and in essence, we never came out, "

Fitzgerald said. " He lived to be nine months old. "

The disease that killed her son - and later her daughter - was never

identified or recognized as genetic, and doctors encouraged the

couple to have another child.

" About a year later, we pulled our lives together and tried again, "

she said. " At three months, she had her first seizure. I'll never

forget the expression on our doctor's face when we walked into the

emergency room. "

Her daughter died when she was 4 years old, on Fitzgerald's birthday.

Her parents were gone and her marriage ended.

" I lost pretty much my whole family, " Fitzgerald said.

She had a brother who lived in San Francisco, so she moved there,

trapped in a downward spiral that lasted several years.

But in time, she came to see that she could help others.

" I saw what other children in the hospital were going through, the

fear and the isolation they felt, " she said. " And of course, I knew

first-hand what the parents go through. "

In the hospital, there are doctors and nurses around to take care of

the sick child and to help the parents, but not at home.

" There was no help for me when I left the hospital, " Fitzgerald said.

She had to learn nursing skills, and support groups were hard to

find.

She started talking to social workers and healthcare professionals

around the country, asking what they needed. When she discovered how

much time they had to spend researching to find services for their

patients, she went to technology experts and told them what she

needed.

At www.bravekids.org, parents of sick children have access to

numerous resources with the click of a mouse.

They can find local medical facilities, child care services, support

groups and resources for legal assistance, financial assistance,

transportation and lodging, among other services. The information is

in English and Spanish.

The database can be searched by category or by condition. To find

resources for a child with a specific disease, the user selects the

name of the disease in the condition section, and then the desired

information, such as camps, hospitals, grief services and so on.

National resources are displayed for anyone, anywhere, who uses the

program. Local resources are available for San Francisco, Los

Angeles, Seattle, Baltimore, Washington and now, Memphis.

Fitzgerald was able to establish a Memphis database with a $50,000

grant from the Variety Children's Charities.

" I had the opportunity to meet about five years ago at one of

our fashion shows, " Variety president Chadwick said.

He offered his advice and support to Fitzgerald, and put her in touch

with other Variety groups around the country. Before long, talk

turned to including Memphis in the target areas.

" We started working on this about 2 years ago, " he said.

Researchers started gathering information for the Memphis area, which

includes Shelby, Fayette and Tipton counties in Tennessee, De Soto

County in Mississippi and Crittenden County in Arkansas.

A year later, the site is up.

Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center is taking advantage of it.

The hospital treats 10,000 children a year and sees another 132,000

in the emergency room or as outpatients, psychosocial services

director Jubirt said.

Brave Kids is providing the department with an up-to-date computer

and has shown the employees how to use the program.

" We're going to have a Variety/Brave Kids room eventually, " Jubirt

said. " Parents will be able to go in and use the computer. "

Public libraries have computers for use free of charge.

Children ages 8-17 who can provide medical documentation that they

have an illness can apply for an MSN TV connection and a year of free

service from Brave Kids, which will allow them to surf the Web using

their television as a monitor. Besides having resources for parents,

the site also has Club Brave Kids where children can chat with other

kids, play games, and search for information.

Fitzgerald has received national recognition for Brave Kids. A group

of football players, including Rich Gannon of the Oakland Raiders and

Brad of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are spokesmen, and the

Dalai Lama honored her as a local humanitarian in the San Francisco

Bay Area in 2001.

But that's not why she does it.

" I just want to equip parents with the tools they need for their

children, " she said. " Children have problems accepting that they're

different. When they can go to a camp or a support group with kids

who have the same condition, it makes them feel better. "

If you'd like to apply for an MSN TV connection, donate money, or

receive additional information about Brave Kids and don't have an

Internet connection, call .