[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 57 (Tuesday, May 6, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E850-E851]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A TRIBUTE TO SARAH HEGARTY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. THOMAS M. BARRETT

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 6, 1997

  Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, It is a great honor for me to 
pay tribute today to a young woman who is a fighter and a winner on the 
soccer field, on the basketball court, and in life.
  Sarah Hegarty, a student at Divine Savior Holy Angels High School in 
Milwaukee was in intensive care last year for more than 6 weeks 
following emergency surgery for intestinal complications, and has spent 
6 months in the hospital since March 1996. Last week, the former all-
conference soccer player and starting guard on Divine Savior's State 
championship basketball team was crowned queen of her prom. And while 
Sarah continues to patiently wait for a small-bowel transplant, she 
manages to live and enjoy life to the fullest extent possible.
  I commend the following article which appeared in Sunday's Milwaukee 
Journal Sentinel about this courageous young woman to the nation's 
attention. Indeed, we can all learn a great deal from Sarah Hegarty's 
determination and persistence.

                        Sarah Waits for the Beep

       She hasn't had a bite to eat since March 20, 1996.
       Sarah Hegarty, the prom queen of Divine Savior Holy Angels 
     High School, has used fluids and a feisty disposition to stay 
     alive.
       At the prom, the announcement of her election as queen was 
     given a roar of approval.
       ``I was in shock,'' Sarah said.
       Shocking Sarah, who is 16, takes a lot because Sarah has 
     had to contend with her life being jolted apart in the past 
     13 months: A former all-conference soccer player and starting 
     guard on a state independent championship basketball team, 
     Sarah was in intensive care for six weeks last year after an 
     emergency operation for an intestinal obstruction that nearly 
     killed her,
       She has had 12 surgeries and has been under general 
     anesthesia 23 times because she had to be anesthetized just 
     so medical personnel could change her surgical dressing. For 
     12 hours every day, liquid nourishment

[[Page E851]]

     is fed into her through a line that has been inserted in her 
     chest.
       While her classmates ate dinner at the prom, she drank 
     water.
       While her classmates danced, she did, too, but a few 
     minutes at a time.
       ``I'd have to take breaks every five minutes,'' she said. 
     ``I'd dance and then I'd sit down and have a glass of 
     water.''
       Sarah is a competitor, with full speed the only marking on 
     her dial. If you call her fiery, make it a conflagration, not 
     just a spark. When she has a goal, don't get in her way 
     because you can't stop a Sarah at full throttle. As expected, 
     the prom couldn't wear down her exuberance, and Sarah had a 
     great time, which lasted until 3 a.m. That's when she arrived 
     home and hooked herself up to her nourishment, which she 
     couldn't disconnect for 12 hours.
       ``Maybe it's the spunk, the tough side of her in sports, 
     that has helped her in her coping,'' her mother, Dolly, said.


                          Waiting for the Beep

       The family is governed by a beeper--when it goes off, they 
     know they have to head to the airport. After a small-bowel 
     donor is found, Sarah and her family will have six hours to 
     get her into transplant surgery at a hospital at the 
     University of Nebraska in Omaha. An air ambulance is 
     available, 24 hours a day.
       ``Despite it being a nightmare, she manages to cope with it 
     better than anyone else,'' her mother said, ``It's her feisty 
     spirit,'' she said and laughed.``Which sometimes drives me 
     crazy.''
       Sarah immediately recalled her mother getting angry in 
     Sara's pre-illness days when a soccer referee would card her, 
     meaning the ref was warning her or throwing her out of a game 
     for a 90-mph infraction.
       Sarah also recalled a technical foul she received in a 
     basketball game after she absolutely, no question about it, 
     cleanly and superbly blocked a shot that a conference star 
     was trying to make. The ref, obviously biased in favor of the 
     star, called a hacking foul on Sarah, and Sarah slightly 
     questioned his brain power, or maybe it was his ability to 
     find his whistle without help.
       ``He gave me the technical right away,'' Sarah said, 
     ``because I'd been talking to him earlier'' about calls so 
     highly questionable that even the ref's mother would have 
     objected.
       So this last year has not been easy for Sarah, as she 
     missed school and sat on the bench while her teammates handle 
     the referees. Her illness has stopped her from doing anything 
     but cheer.
       ``It's been frustrating,'' Sarah said.
       Asked about the transplant, she said, ``I can't wait.''
       ``We're anxiously awaiting Omaha,'' her mother said.
       They have been told that a transplant may not be found for 
     6 to 9 months. Meanwhile, Sarah keeps doing what she can, as 
     long as she doesn't stray far from beeper and nourishment.
       ``I'm connected 12 hours a night . . . and sometimes, if 
     I'm thirsty, I'll go on it during the day,'' she said. ``I 
     carry around a backpack and I keep it in there,'' she said, 
     indicating the equipment she needs to connect to the line 
     into her chest.
       Prior to the prom, when friends told Sarah that she had 
     been elected to the prom court, ``I started laughing,'' she 
     said. ``I thought they were joking.''
       The announcement of queen is not made until prom night, so 
     she and her date, Kevin Tante, 16, a student at Marquette 
     University High School, were startled. There were tears and 
     cheers and one bop: Sarah's best friend, Mary Friar, shouted, 
     ``Yes, yes, yes,'' pumped her fist in the air and 
     accidentally bopped the person standing next to her.
       When someone becomes as ill as Sarah has been, it tilts the 
     world within touch: Her illness has become a battle for 
     everyone close to her, including friends, teachers, four 
     sisters and a brother, and, of course, her parents, Dolly and 
     Jerry. Sarah has been unlucky in what happened, but lucky 
     that a crowd showed up to help her.
       ``Literally hundreds of people visited her in the 
     hospital,'' Mrs. Hegarty said.
       Sarah has spent a total of six months in hospitals, and 
     she's looking forward to her next stay. She wants the 
     transplant now. This minute. Blow the whistle, ref, and let's 
     get going.
       This teenager and prom queen and hard-driving athlete who 
     hasn't eaten in more than a year has already made a list. She 
     has marked the name of every restaurant she's going to charge 
     into when she gets home from Omaha.

     

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