THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9412010192
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
JAMIE CLARK WOULD BE the first to admit that being sick any time is a bummer. And being in the hospital is even worse, especially when you're not quite 14, it's the month before Christmas, you've got lots of shopping to do and there's a trio of dogs moping around the house wondering why you're not home.
That was the position she found herself in last November when a bad cold turned first to the flu and then to pneumonia. Real bad pneumonia, the kind that the doctor takes one listen to and sends you off immediately to the hospital.
In the long run, Jamie was fortunate. The hospital to which she was sent was Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, a place with a well deserved reputation for understanding how kids feel both physically and emotionally.
Not only did she leave five days later with the pneumonia cured, she left with a major award in the offing - although she didn't know it at the time.
``One day the nurse came in and asked if I'd like to draw a picture for a Christmas card,'' said Jamie, who's been drawing for as long as she can remember. ``They gave me some pencils and markers and I just drew a bear and added the words.''
Several months later Jamie was notified by the Circle of Hope of the Norfolk Union of The King's Daughters that her design was one of three chosen to be used on the Christmas cards the circle sells each year to raise funds.
There is only one requirement for the artists who participate in the competition. They have to have been patients in the hospital.
A year after her hospitalization Jamie can laugh a little at the experience, but she still shudders when she remembers the medications that trickled through her IV tubes.
``They stung,'' she said.
Aside from that, the Green Run freshman had nothing but good things to say about her stay at King's Daughters, as did her mom, Lori Clark, and her grandmother, Beverly Agnor.
``We took turns staying with her,'' Lori Clark said. ``And the nurses just couldn't have been nicer. Thank God we have a place like that in the area.''
There's an exceptionally close bond among the three generations of women who share a love for art, animals and shopping.
This year they have had somewhat less shopping to do since they bought all of their Christmas cards from the King's Daughters.
``We even sent packages of them to our relatives in Pennsylvania,'' Lori Clark said. ``And,'' Agnor said. ``We'll be sending the cards to our customers, too.''
That would be the customers of Lafayette Distributors, the Norfolk auto parts company which she and her husband Robert own and in which Lori Clark also works.
Jamie, who's taking her first art courses this year, is looking forward to a career in art, although she hasn't decided exactly what yet. Architecture is a possibility, so is police work of the type that helps identify perpetrators or victims.
She figures she gets her artistic talent from both sides of her family. Her mother and grandmother share a love of decorating and crafts and her dad, Michael Clark of Chesapeake, has a company called Exhibits Inc., which designs and installs displays. MEMO: Jamie's cards, as well as two other designs, are available from the
Norfolk City Union of The King's Daughters. Cost is $6 for a pack of 10.
Proceeds go to support the hospital. For information, call 668-7098.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JO-ANN CLEGG
Several months after a bout with pneumonia in Children's Hospital of
The King's Daughters, Jamie Clark, 14, was told that her drawing
while in bed was one of three chosen by Circle of Hope to be used on
Christmas cards to raise funds for the hospital.
by CNB