Gunnar Esiason is proud to be just an ordinary teenager moving up the high school ladder in his education and on his sports teams. Together with his dad and family, he also works hard at fighting the disease of cystic fibrosis.

• Gunnar was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 2 years old. Every day he undergoes rigorous daily treatments to help control the disease. This regimen includes:
• enzymes that help in digestion;
• high doses of antibiotics during bacterial infections;
• therapy sessions that include special exercises to loosen and promote drainage of the mucus;
• other types of exercise to strengthen breathing and cardiovascular function; proper nutrition and vitamins;
• and several inhalation treatments each day to cut through the mucus.

Despite these daily challenges, Gunnar remains focused on his future. Currently a high school sophomore in Long Island, he is a Straight A student, is a military history buff and enjoys an incredibly close relationship with his family and has great friends. While enjoying his high school years, Gunnar has a passion for sports including lacrosse, hockey, and football. Just like his dad, Gunnar is a quarterback. His hobbies include golf and gaming.

His favorite player is Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers and together with his dad he has a passion for the University of Maryland. When he gets a chance, you might also find Gunnar at a New York Rangers game. Gunnar is not just a story of hope he’s an inspiration for us all.

Megan is two-years-old and was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis about a year and a half ago. Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects approximately 30,000 children and adults in the United States.

CF causes the body to produce an abnormally thick, sticky mucus, due to the faulty transport of sodium and chloride (salt) within cells lining organs such as the lungs and pancreas, to their outer surfaces. Therefore Megan takes enzymes with each meal and/or snack to help her digest food properly and absorb enough nutrients. She also does chest physical therapy twice a day to dislodge any mucus in the lungs and takes numerous inhaled antibiotic and other medications to fight lung infection and open clogged airways. Despite the many treatments Megan needs each day, she leads a very normal active life. She enjoys playing with her five year old sister, gymnastics and any outside activities!

Gang violence is prevalent to my community, where I watch children and friends ducking from bullets, and dying on the streets. I watched my brother and sister die in the street. It is not a lifestyle that I would like to continue for my family, or myself. I want to study and learn. I want to leave this lifestyle behind. Upon returning to my community, I want to offer some type of employment opportunities to young children. I will not come back here to live though. Higher education is my ticket out of poverty.

I grew up in the middle of gangs, gunfire, drugs, robbers and cheaters. I listened to the sounds of the street every night. I worked hard, I dreamed and prayed for my future, and that of my family. I know that I could lose another relative, any time, any day. I know I could be caught in the crossfire of the gangs every time I walk into the streets. I gave myself an education. But what matters to me is that I attend college.

My sister and two brothers who died on the streets in the 1990's were cases of mistaken identities. I want to continue my education so I can grow up, get out and give back -- so my community one day does not have humans hunting humans...so that young adults do not have to die undignified in the streets. I want to get a quality education and secure financial stability so that one day my children can go to college too. I would like to get a higher education to make my family proud, and move them out of where they have lived, in order to make a better life for me. Unfortunately, my dad died of cancer in 1995. His dream was to have a college educated son or daughter. I wish to make my father's dream come true.

Michael
Taylor Michaels Scholarship Fund Recipient
Magic Johnson Foundation

"A Heart Torn in Two"

Jessica and Nick Lagges were driving home when a car pulled out in front of them. Nick swerved to miss the other car and slammed into a telephone pole. He looked over to check on his sister and said to the woman who approached the car, “She needs your help!”
“Garry and I were on our way to our local hospital when we learned that both Nick and Jessica had been flown to Orlando Regional Level One Trauma Center. We were scared to death,” Sandy shares.
After a nearly two-hour drive, Garry and Sandy arrived at the trauma center. They were relieved to find Nick had no serious injuries; however, the crash had left Jessica with cuts and bruises on her face, a broken hip and pelvic bones as well.

Once the trauma team stabilized the 15-year-old girl, Jessica was transferred to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. When she began complaining of heaviness in her chest, an echosonographer performed an echocardiogram and saw something abnormal.
After looking at the results, pediatric cardiologist with the Congenital Heart Institute at Arnold Palmer Hospital and Miami Children’s Hospital, Craig Fleishman, MD, explained that the crash had nearly split her heart in two. The wall that separates the right and left sides of her heart had split down the middle. “There are only a handful of reports in the surgical literature of survivors from such an injury,” her family learned. “A traumatic injury makes the heart muscle very weak,” Dr. Fleishman explained. The heart needed to heal to withstand the needed surgery better.
After more than a week at Arnold Palmer Hospital, Jessica was stable enough to return home. “I was confined to a wheelchair for two months,” she explains because of the broken bones in her hips and pelvis. But Jessica had to take it easy for her heart as well. Her physicians had explained that she had a “potential time bomb in her chest.” “I couldn’t even see a scary movie,” she says.

The open-heart surgery was in July, seven months after the car crash. “It was incredible,” Sandy says. “The top pediatric cardiac surgeon was right here at Arnold Palmer Hospital.” When the team came out of surgery, they had grins stretching from ear to ear; it was a success. They had sewn Jessica’s heart back together.
Four days after the surgery, Jessica went home with dreams of returning to the dance studio and getting back on her surfboard. “She has since undergone testing and imaging that indicate that her heart is functioning well and that her activities need not be restricted,” her pediatric cardiac surgeon William DeCampli, MD, explains.

“Life can be gone in a blink of an eye,” Jessica says. She plans to make the most of it.

An eight month pregnant Senegalese woman, Ajalatu, arrived in New York only eleven months before to join her husband by an arranged marriage. This was custom for many women in Senegal. An arranged marriage was not unusual and held the promise of a better and happy life. Almost immediately, her dreams of a happy life began to disintegrate as her husband became physically, sexually and verbally abusive. Within two months Ajalatu became pregnant and hoped that her husband would stop the mistreatment. Instead, her husband became enraged upon hearing of the pregnancy and continued to inflict traumatic injuries on Ajalatu, stating he did not want a child.
After a particularly brutal beating, Ajalatu was taken to the emergency room at Harlem Hospital, where she was treated for her injuries and sexually transmitted diseases, and given prenatal care. Because Ajalatu spoke only Wolof, the native language of Senegal, her husband provided information during registration. During her examination, the physician suspected that she was a victim of domestic violence and was not the age of thirty five, as presented by her husband. A family member in Senegal confirmed that she was not yet twenty years old. Ajalatu was encouraged to seek help from the police, but she refused because she had no money, knew no one in the country except for her husband and feared her husband would kill her. She was treated, released and provided with medication and a date for a follow-up appointment in the hospital's clinic.

A nurse from Harlem Hospital became concerned when Ajalatu did not keep her appointment and could not be reached by telephone. She called the police department and reported her missing. When the police went to Ajalatu's apartment, they found her chained to the radiator in a pool of her waste. Ajalatu told the police that each time her husband left the apartment, he chained her to the radiator. Sometimes he did not return the same day. On the last occasion he had been gone for four days and she had no access to food, water or toilet facilities. At this time Ajalatu was eight months pregnant and in poor physical condition. Ajalatu was once again taken to the emergency room where she was referred to Women's Safe Start. At first, she was convinced that the program was a prison, though great efforts were taken to reassure her that she was going to a place where she would finally be safe.

Ajalatu had no identification or documents. In spite of this, the staff was successful in securing public assistance, food stamps and benefits. She and her baby met all requirements to receive public housing. Her case worker worked with the Immigration Law Project to help her petition for citizenship under the Violence Against Women Act of 2000. Social service staff escorted her to clinic appointments and monitored her medical condition through the delivery of her child. When the child was born, staff members taught her how to feed and care for her infant, write her name, and tell time. With the assistance of translators, Ajalatu participated in Mom's Survival Skills Seminar, the Job Readiness Workshop and empowerment groups. Women's Safe Start has built a trusting relationship with her and she is adjusting to life in this country. Ajalatu now hopes and dreams again for herself and her child. She smiles now instead of crying.

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