This past Saturday night, Zoe and I had the pleasure of attending a benefit for a fellow heart transplant recipient. Debbie Dalehite, who received her new heart last summer, graduated high school with my father. My dad’s class recently had their reunion, and while Debbie was not in attendance, she was running the show from her hospital bed. My dad learned about the benefit for Debbie’s medical expenses at the reunion and he thought Zoe and I would like to go and meet a fellow heart recipient. Zoe loves to meet people like her and we met not one, but 2 heart recipients that night.
We were introduced to a gentleman name Robby (I’m terrible with names so I hope I got that right) and his wife. Robby received his heart January 2009, one month after Zoe. He was in the hospital waiting at the same time as Zoe and he remembers following her recovery very closely. He told her, “I’ve known you since before you knew I knew you.” Zoe loved that. Robby and his wife also form a team for the LifeBanc Gift of Life Walk/Run. Perhaps some of my team will remember seeing this name, The Rowdy Hearts. The Rowdy Hearts raised $6,142.00 last year and had a team of 82 members. They were familiar with our little team and suggested we combine our teams for 2014! Robby suggested Zoe’s Rowdy Hearts as the new team name and we love it! They have a company sponsor that does their shirts and even threw in hats last year. We’ll get together as the even gets closer to work on a new team design. We’re hoping to be the biggest team there in 2014!
While at this benefit, Zoe took a walk around to check out the silent auction items up for bid. She’s a huge Vera Bradley fan and they had a back pack that they were auctioning off. I bought 20 tickets and gave Zoe half which she promptly dumped all of into the Vera Bradley bag. Debbie’s family, who was running the benefit, found out about Zoe and her desperate desire to procure this bag and they gave it to her. Oh, yes. JUST GAVE HER THE BACKPACK! I don’t think you can image how elated this little girl was to get this bag. She just sat at the table and hugged it. I’d like to give another special thanks to Debbie and her wonderful family for making this fellow heart girl so happy.
January 20, 2014 at 3:53 pm
No one deserved that Vera Bradley bag more than Zoe she truly touched my family and myself. She had all of us in tears. She is a strong girl and I think people could learn a lot from her, she is quite an inspiration. I am so happy to have met her every time I think about her it makes me tear up because she is so vibrant and happy. I am proud to know that I have made a new friend in Zoe.