Fund drive touches Millers in special way

Kindergartners at Blessed Sacrament School in Albany are bringing in spare change to donate to the Children's Hospital at Albany Medical Center. Even though Joe Miller attends fourth grade and his sister Toni is in the fifth grade, they donated a heaping bag of quarters, nickels, dimes and pennies to the effort.

That's because the Miller family is taking the fundraiser very personally.

"I want people to know how extraordinary the staff [at Children's Hospital] is," said Joe and Toni's mother, Terri. "Sometimes, hospitals get a bad rap, but they really, really care."

Crisis in family

The Millers experienced that care firsthand last October. Mr. and Mrs. Miller had noticed their son complaining that he didn't feel well for a couple of days but thought he had a minor cold. Then he developed nausea and a low fever, and suddenly went into a seizure at home.

Joe was rushed to Albany Med, where he was diagnosed with viral encephalitis. At first, it seemed to be a minor case; but after he went home from the hospital, he rapidly deteriorated and ended up back in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), placed in a medical coma to stop his severe seizures, with a monitor put into his brain to track intracranial pressure.

"The doctors worked on him all day, and the nurses that had been there all night were still there," Mrs. Miller remembered. "I don't know how many hours straight those women worked."

Supportive staff

Joe remained in a coma for a week. Even when he awakened, he was agitated and didn't recognize his family. The Millers credit the Children's Hospital staff for helping them through that terrible time.

"The doctors would come over and put their arms around you, and they would cry with you," said Mrs. Miller. "Most doctors don't get personally involved with their patients, but they did."

She added that the nurses never lost their patience when the family peppered them with questions or snapped at them out of stress. If the Millers noticed a change in Joe's monitors, a nurse would immediately bring a doctor to check it, whether he or she was in another area of the hospital or getting some sleep while on call.

"I marveled at them," Mrs. Miller said simply.

Recovery

Eventually, Joe was transferred from Albany Med to the Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital in Schenectady, where he continued to heal.

After a lengthy period of recovery, he is back in school, where his mother reports he's earning 100 percent on spelling tests and hitting home runs for his team at the Westland Hills Little League.

Coin collection

Recently, Blessed Sacrament kindergarten teacher Michelle DiPiazza heard on the radio that Children's Hospital was looking for coin donations and decided her class should participate. She had been Toni's teacher years ago, and many teachers and staff from the school had visited Joe during his convalescence. 

Although Joe has no memory of his illness, he was excited about the opportunity to raise money for the hospital.

Pitching in, Mrs. Miller, who does data entry in the Bishop's Appeal office at the Pastoral Center in Albany, emailed coworkers about the fundraiser.

"The school has not asked me to solicit donations," she said; "I took it upon myself to help because my family has been so deeply affected by Joe's illness and all that Albany Med did to help us. If anyone would be interested in taking part in this very worthy cause, it would make a bunch of kindergarten kids very happy as well as help[ing] save children's lives."

(Money is being collected through June. To donate, send checks made out to Children's Hospital at Albany Medical Center to Michelle DiPiazza, Blessed Sacrament School, 605 Central Ave., Albany, NY 12206.)

'Did I almost die?'

Joe's illness has had one positive after-effect: a boost in faith. During his recovery, he asked his mother, "Did I almost die?"

When she said that was true, he asked to go into Blessed Sacrament Church and went off by himself to pray.

"I've never seen a kid who, at that age, has the faith he has," Mrs. Miller remarked, noting that when Joe awoke from his coma, before he even recognized his family, he knew who his pastor, Rev. John Bradley, was. 

The rest of the Millers are faith-filled, as well. Toni, when asked how Joe was doing during his illness, always replied firmly: "He's fine, and he's going to be fine." Mr. and Mrs. Miller still keep close by a prayer card with a healing prayer given to them by Rev. Tony Childs, associate pastor; they recited the prayer every day while Joe was sick.

"It's all tattered and torn," Mrs. Miller said of the card. "The first thing I do in the morning and the last thing before I go to bed is thank God for all the healing He's given Joe." (KB)

(5/27/04)