[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 31 (Thursday, March 19, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A TRIBUTE TO SARAH HEGARTY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Barrett) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to pay 
tribute to a brave young woman from my District who passed away on 
Monday, just a few weeks after receiving a three-organ transplant.
  Sarah Hegarty was a remarkable young woman with hope and promise for 
the future. She spent the last 2 years of her life simultaneously 
isolated from the life she lived so vibrantly and immersed in friends 
and family offering love and support for her throughout her ordeal.
  Her family has been saddened by the loss of a loved one at such an 
early age, but they also have been enriched by the strength and courage 
Sarah displayed and the support their community has given them.
  Though she was only 17, Sarah lived a full life. She was a starting 
guard on the Divine Savior Holy Angels High School 1996 State 
Championship Basketball Team. She was an all-conference soccer player. 
She was an integral part of life at her school, and her friends stayed 
by her side during 2 years of surgery and hospital stays.
  Sarah's classmates at Divine Savior Holy Angels High School conducted 
several spiritual services for Sarah during her illness. They carried 
with them a tape of the service conducted just before her latest 
surgery and played it for her in her hospital room. Sarah's classmates 
found solace in the services and used the services as a means to pay 
tribute to her.
  On Tuesday, as the Nation celebrated St. Patrick's Day with parades 
and the wearing o' the green, the students at Divine Savior Holy Angels 
High School celebrated the life of a classmate, a teammate, their 
friend, Sarah Hegarty. A writer for our local paper described the 
service quite appropriately as a remembrance of ``someone with whom 
they had walked the noisy courts of triumph into the quiet corridors of 
pain.''
  On the day she died, Father Larry Gillick, a friend of the family, 
visited her and relayed his thoughts of the struggle both Sarah and her 
parents endured. He said, ``She is a fighter, two years of this 
suffering; what parents won't do. Amazing love.''
  That is what it is, Mr. Speaker, amazing love. I can only offer 
condolences and the best wishes from myself and my family to Sarah's 
parents, Dolly and Jerry; her brother, James; and her sisters as they 
begin down the long road of healing. I know Sarah will be missed, and I 
am confident that her life made an impact that will always be 
remembered.

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