Jenna Martin's story in last Wednesday's News-Times noted the then-upcoming surgery of 11-year-old Cole Wooten.
It was an uplifting story, and at the same time very hard to read. The fifth-grader was getting ready to have both feet amputated, oddly enough, in hopes of giving him a chance to walk.
Cole has a very rare disease called epidermolysis bullosa, which in essence prevents the layers of his skin from adhering to each other. He bruises and injures easily, and for years has been mobile only either riding in a wheelchair or by scooting around on his knees.
You would certainly never know of his infirmity from his attitude. He is as bright, sunny and cheerful a youngster as you could ever meet. Before his surgery, he even visited other classes at Stevens Creek Elementary School (where my wife is principal, in case you didn't know from the 4,682 times I've said it before) to explain what was going to happen, and to answer (most) questions.
Cole's surgery to remove his feet, disfigured by the disease, was to allow him to be fitted for prosthetics to possibly enable him to walk. He returned home Saturday from the Greenville, S.C., hospital where the surgery took place, and is by all accounts recuperating nicely. He'll be out of school the rest of the year while undergoing rehab, and no doubt will miss his classmates.
This should help brighten his day: When word got out about Cole's surgery, the folks at Modoc Speedway - operated by my brother-in-law, and where Cole's mom works sometimes during races - had the drivers go through the crowds, helmets in hand, to solicit donations from the patrons at this past weekend's big race.
From what my sister tells me, "generous" doesn't begin to describe the response. Altogether, the drivers collected more than $3,200 for Cole's family, and also signed a T-shirt from the race to give him.
Keep in mind: This is a young man whose family thought would never leave the hospital after he was born. Most people with this disease don't, and there is only one other person with EB who has lived longer than Cole.
Put whatever troubles you might have in contrast to that, and then see just how hard it is now to have a bad day.
Jerry Buccafusco
The family of Jerry Buccafusco has certainly had a few rough days lately.
Jerry had been feeling a little tired, and then complained of chest pains. He went to get checked out in late February and got the bad news: Advanced liver and lung cancer, with a bleak prognosis of not much time left.
In addition to being a brilliant scientist and great family man and the husband of Columbia County School Board Chairman Regina Buccafusco, Jerry also was a comic-book collector and huge fan of science fiction and fantasy. He would certainly appreciate, then, the reference:
In the movie The Watchmen - based on a comic series of the same name - a former bad guy named Moloch is being interrogated by one of the supposed good guys, Rorschach.
Moloch tells Rorschach he has cancer. Rorschach asks, "What kind?" Moloch responds, "You know that kind you get better from? Not that one."
Unfortunately, that turned out to be the kind Jerry had, too. Less than two weeks after his diagnosis, he died quietly at his Evans home.
Though the end came quickly, there was enough time for his family to gather for their final goodbyes. In a search for a silver lining at a time like this, that seems to be a true blessing.
I hope that knowledge will help comfort his family, though I don't imagine it can fill the sizable void of his passing. May Jerry rest in peace, and may his family find peace in fond memories.
(Barry L. Paschal is publisher of The Columbia County News-Times. E-mail barry.paschal@newstimesonline.com. Follow at twitter.com/barrypaschal.)
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