Maria Long

February 17,2003

Hi Shelly,

This is for Maria Long.  

It will be ten years ago this Thanksgiving that Maria first came to visit the United States. We had met two years earlier while I was a student at the University of Costa Rica.  She came to visit me, to meet my family for the first time.  

Two days before Christmas 1993, we were packing the car and getting ready to spend the holidays with my parents.  It was cold, rainy and extremely windy.  We were running as fast as possible between the house and car because of the horrible weather and our desire to get on the road as soon as possible.  Suddenly, there was a tremendous cracking sound.  I jumped back and looked up to the sky.  It was then that I saw the 50-foot tree coming down at us.  I screamed to Roc’o, but she was oblivious, running as fast as she could to get out of the rain.  A moment later it slammed into her, landing directly on her head.  She collapsed immediately, unconscious in the mud.  The 911 workers rushed her to the hospital, where the doctors told us, that it was a miracle that she was alive and a miracle that she was not paralyzed.  She would however, have to live with the after effects of a "crippling" head injury.

Roc’o and I moved back to her native Costa Rica and were married shortly after.  She suffered horribly as a result of her injury.  We visited numerous doctors, but none could help with the seizures and blinding pain.  Our first son, Gabriel, was born and Roc’o continued to suffer through a time that she had looked forward to for years.  She is the most loving and caring mother, I could have ever imagined for my children.  She would "black-out" several times daily due to the pain, but would persevere.  The debilitating seizures went on for years, but she would do her best to hide her suffering so that we would not worry about her.  

During both of her pregnancies, she endured even more suffering.  While pregnant with our oldest son she fell and broke her ankle, and then went through a "nightmare" ordeal during labor and delivery.  Her second pregnancy may have been worse.  She was ordered to "bed rest" at week twenty-two and two weeks before her due date developed bells palsy (facial paralysis).  The former model that wouldn't go to the supermarket without lipstick on, now could barely speak and had to wear a patch over her eye because she lost the ability to blink. Her post-partum pain was so severe that she suffered even more seizures in the hospital.  Her doctor was beside herself, because she said she had never seen a patient go through such an ordeal.


In 1998, we made the decision that it was in the best interest of the family to move back to the United States and we eventually settled in Burlington, VT. The move was particularly difficult for her.  As a city girl (from the tropics) who despises cold weather, winter in the Northeast was particularly difficult, but she wanted the best for her family.  Roc’o did not speak much English and there was almost nobody who spoke Spanish in the area.  She was homesick, and felt isolated from her culture.  It killed me to see her crying as she looked out the window at the barren trees and snow.  We held out for a glimmer of hope that things would improve.  

A short time later, we visited another new neurologist who gave her yet another new medication to try.  We had probably seen close to different specialists by then.  It was hard to stay upbeat. This time, however, we noticed her condition began to slowly improve for the better.  Life began to take on a certain degree of "normalcy" and Roc’o was even able to attend language classes.

Today, four years later, Roc’o is healthy.  She is the mother of another beautiful boy, Nicolas, who will be two years old next month.  She is a beloved Spanish professor at a local private school and even receives compliments on her beautiful accent.  She still hates the cold dark winter days, but enjoys sliding with the family and we recently went bought her first pair of snowboard boots.  She still gets an occasional headache, but we believe the days of excruciating pain and suffering are behind us.  We have two beautiful children, a new home, and finally got that new puppy we had promised the boys.  It brings us great joy to see her smiling face.  We are not nominating her for her suffering, but rather celebrating the beautiful and selfless wife and mother that we have been blessed with.

Today is our Whirly Girl's birthday.  Thank you for taking the time to read our nomination.

Warren