THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 1, 1995 TAG: 9505270166
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
When Andre Kearney looks back over his young life, he can't remember the bad times.
But his mother can. She remembers watching her son, at just two weeks old, suffer congestive heart failure. She remembers the long hours, pacing hospital corridors, wondering whether a baby with a heart full of holes could possibly live to see his first birthday. She remembers day after day of intensive care, five grueling open-heart surgeries and countless problems with artificial arteries, failed Pacemakers and prescribed drugs.
All Andre remembers about the times he has spent in and out of the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters during the last 15 years because of a congenital heart defect is watching the doctors perform interesting work and making friends among the nursing staff.
Instead of the pain and suffering he has undergone, Andre's most vivid memories include running down the hospital corridor one hot, summer afternoon, squirting a water-filled syringe at nurses. The nurses, as the instigators of the fun, were, of course, shooting back.
``Being in the hospital so much never bothered him,'' Andre's mother, Pat Kearney, explained. ``He took it in stride. But I didn't always. The doctors and nurses really helped me through.''
Now, as Andre prepares to finish the eighth grade as an honor roll student at Lafayette-Winona Middle School, his mother believes God and the medical staff at the children's hospital, working together, have created a miracle by giving her son life.
``When he was in intensive care for so long, we had to go from day to day,'' Kearney recalled. ``My faith in God got me through. No matter how bad he got, I always believed deep down that everything would be all right. Thank God and Children's Hospital that he is.''
For the last eight years, Andre and his mother have made sure thousands of others know about their gratitude to the hospital and its staff and how the doctors and nurses work to save lives.
Since 1987, the Brambleton residents have appeared each year on the local telecast of the Children's Miracle Network Telethon. A portion of the proceeds generated by the nationally televised event, broadcast this year on WVEC-TV Saturday and Sunday, benefit CHKD.
Last year, the telethon raised more than $125 million.
``They're so good, and their story is so wonderful, we ask them back every year,'' said Carol Powell, hospital spokeswoman. ``They really get across why people should contribute.''
Andre admits he likes going in front of the TV cameras each year to tell his story.
``It's fun,'' he said. ``All my friends say they see me.''
In 1987, Andre's story was a featured vignette on the national portion of the telethon. It made such an impact on organizers that he was given a free trip to Disneyland in California.
Even though he has beaten daunting odds in his young life, Andre's medical saga, however, is not over. Doctors have told the Kearneys that Andre will have to undergo at least one more open-heart surgery, periodically have his Pacemaker replaced and continue with drug therapy the rest of his life.
But this teenager, who has spent most of his life in the hospital, does not flinch at the news. For Andre, time spent in the hospital is ``pretty easy.''
In fact, he dreams of one day helping others, who, like himself, have heart problems. He plans on becoming a cardiologist.
``I've been coming here for so many years, and I look at what the doctors and nurses are doing to help me . . . it's what I want to do, too,'' the teenager said recently during a non-medical visit to the hospital.
``The only thing I want to do is medicine. I don't like to read adventure books; I like medical ones. I want to learn all I can about heart problems.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
Patricia Kearney, background, has been through surgery after surgery
with her son Andre, 15.
TELETHON
The 13th annual Children's Miracle Network Telethon will be
broadcast on WVEC-TV (Channel 13) beginning at 11:35 p.m., Saturday
and continue until 8 p.m. Sunday.
Local segments will be telecast live from the lobby of the
Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters. The Ghent hospital is
the only one in the region that handles the specialized needs of
sick and injured children. To call in pledges during the telethon,
call 669-9000 or 1-800-216-6667.
by CNB