Heather’s Essay

Nasrin Samadi, Teacher 

Patrick F. Gavin Middle School

“To me, courage means to not give up and to live with something horrible. My dad is my hero and I am his!”

I’m not the most courageous person in the world because I get terrified of things like rats, mice, or spiders. But I was courageous in this memory. My dad is my main influence, the most courageous person I know. He’s gone through so much, but I’m getting ahead of myself. 

It all started around 5 P.M. on August 19, 2003. He just got out of work. (He worked as a carpenter, painter, and anything else that has to do with home improvement). Our neighbor Billy, who lives on the second floor, came downstairs and asked my dad to put in a bathroom window. Just so you know my dad tries to help anyone. So he said, “Okay.”

He went outside to the backyard and got the ladder. And then he set it up. I felt trapped because I was on the other side of the ladder near the entrance of the backyard. There was no way out except under the ladder. So I took my chances and went under the ladder. Ooops! That’s bad luck! 

I asked him, “Do you need anything?”

He replied, “No, not now.”

Then about five or ten minutes later, I was on the play set in our backyard. I heard him holler, “Heather! Go get my caulking gun on the stairs.” When I retrieved it and gave it to him, he put it in his back pocket and climbed steadily back up the ladder. 

And then it happened... he must of have reached for his caulking gun and lost his balance and then plummeted to the ground. (To tell you the truth, he blanked out and I did too). All I can remember is him doing 3-4 summersaults in the air and then landing on his side in our next door neighbor’s alley. 

He got rushed to the emergency room and was in a slight coma. But he came out of it a little more than 2 months later. After he got released from Boston Medical Center, he got moved to Spaulding for rehab. But got moved again! Now he’s in Milton Health Care and he is doing better, but it has taken more than three and a half years to get to this point. 

This event has changed my life because I can’t ask my dad to teach me how to play baseball or basketball. That makes it hard to ask somebody else for help because I’m not sharing it with somebody special. My fears are my dad dying when I am a kid because I need him. and so does my family. I’ve noticed that when he gets sick, he doesn’t act like himself. He acts like he is a prisoner in his own body. How I deal with his accident everyday is just thinking he’s my dad no matter what he says, does, or feels. He can’t talk, walk, eat, or drink by himself, but he still knows he is special in many, many hearts. 

So now, you know our, my dad’s and my story of courage. To me, courage means to not give up and to live with something horrible. My dad is my hero and I am his!