Time doesn’t stop for a hurricane, and unfortunately for Jennifer Stine and her three-year-old daughter Willow, they were feeling the full force of that reality before Hurricane Irma hit Florida. Tiny Willow was diagnosed with leukemia on Friday before the storm hit, leaving her family just two days to absorb that news while preparing for the imminent storm.
On top of everything else, Jennifer and Willow were stuck in St. Petersburg, Florida, more than forty miles away from the other two members of their family, Willow’s father and four-year-old sister. The icing on the cake, so to speak, was that on the same day the storm was due to hit, it would be Willow’s third birthday, and Jennifer had no way to prepare a proper party, or to safely travel to celebrate with Willow’s family and friends.
Jennifer was very overwhelmed by this confluence of events, all happening in such a short time. “I was like, I don’t know how much more I can take. My baby’s turning 3 and has cancer and on top of that my 4-year old daughter and husband are an hour and a half away in a hurricane. I’m just trying to process all this.”
Hospital staff, however, were about to prove to Jennifer and Willow that we are never actually as alone as we may think we are. The nurses, care staff, and specialists working with Willow got wind of all the family were going through, and they stepped in to throw Willow a birthday party that she will always remember. The hospital happened to have a stash of new toys, and the staff raided it to wrap up such things as a doll, a bubble machine, books, and play-doh for Willow to unwrap on her birthday. Gifts that left Willow repeatedly shouting in joy, “I always wanted this!” after opening each one.
Jennifer was completely overwhelmed and cried tears of joy while the nurses and hospital staff presented Willow with a cake and sang Happy Birthday to her. The kindness of strangers, and seeing them take time out of their lives, and their own hurricane preparations, gave Jennifer strength and determination to face down anything her family might be going through. Combined with the events at the hospital, and the fact that Irma was not as strong as the worst predictions, Jennifer feels a renewed sense of calm, saying, on Sunday night after the days birthday events, “I’m feeling much more secure now. You have to pull it together and be strong for your kids and be their rock, so that’s what we’re doing.”
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Source: CNN
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