Meet Anthony Cole, Jr.

On September 8, 1998, we got a call from the junior high school that our 12 year old son was being airlifted to Children's Hospital.

Twenty minutes later, we were met by two chaplains at the door to the Emergency Room who kept us for what seemed like forever.

When we were finally able to see our son, he was in ICU, monitored, IV'd and had a breathing tube in his throat. He had suffered a heart attack due to Wolf Parkinson White syndrome, a rare electrical defect of the heart, only detected by EKG or an "event".

Anthony stayed at Children's Hospital for 3 months and was still in a coma when he came home on December 12.

He remained in a coma for several more months, maybe a full year. He was tended to by nurses, and by us, 24 hours a day.

We always thought that Anthony would be fine when he finally "woke up" from the coma, but eventually we realized that we would never again see the 12 year old we sent to school on September 8. A lack of oxygen during the cardiac arrest left him with brain injury that would forever change him.

When he finally went back to school he was a different person, confined to a wheelchair, nonverbal, accompanied by a nurse. His old friends didn't even know him anymore and were afraid of him.

Anthony graduated from high school awhile ago. He now attends the C.A.R.E. Program at Goodwill several days a week. He still works out and is active socially, attending Sycamore High School home football games and Cincinnati Recreation Commission’s karaoke night. He loves country music and sees Toby Keith at Riverbend every year.

He smiles gently at everyone and greets everybody, even strangers. And I know that, when he works his magic, he makes everyone recognize that their headaches are often trivial.

Anthony's attitude is a constant reminder that it is how we choose to deal with our problems that shapes our lives and our happiness.