When Karol Warchola’s work phone rang on a recent Thursday afternoon, the social services associate for UNMC’s Munroe-Meyer Institute had no idea it was a friend calling.
That’s because when the phone rang, the woman on the other end was a stranger. By by the time they hung up, they’d shared hopes, fears, laughter and tears.
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| Karol Warchola |
The woman on the other end of the line has epilepsy and is set to have brain surgery this fall at UNMC to eliminate the seizures caused by the condition.
Apprehensive about the experience, she did what many would do — she turned to Google.
She searched UNMC professor of neurosurgery Dr. Arun-Angelo Patil’s name and found a post from a website designed for people to share how UNMC is vital to them. The Dec. 8, 2010, post was by Karol Warchola and read:
“Dr. Angelo Patil performed brain surgery on my daughter in 2000. She was diagnosed with a degenerative form of epilepsy, which left her severely delayed, unable to speak. Three days after her first surgery she looked at me and spoke her first sentence, ‘I want more!’ She remains seizure free and continues to achieve more thanks to Dr. Patil and UNMC.”
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The woman discerned Warchola was a UNMC employee and found her telephone number in an online directory. Within minutes, the two talked on the phone.
The woman from rural Neb. was nervous to shave her head for surgery. Warchola understood completely.
“My daughter had long, beautiful curls down to the middle of her back,” Warchola said. “When the doctors shaved her head, that’s when I cried. Not during the 24 hours of surgery.”
Mere minutes into the conversation, a Facebook friendship request was sent, accepted and the two women looked through Warchola’s online photo album that documents her daughter’s surgery.
“You see right there, that’s the spot on her head that got infected because she picked at it,” Warchola told the woman. “You definitely need to shave your whole head to avoid infection.”
An hour of conversation later, they agreed to meet when the woman comes to Omaha for a pre-op visit.
They also exchanged phone numbers, which means the next time they call each other, they’ll know it’s a friend on the line.
What that phone call reminded me of the most was Madi’s day before surgery. That day I crammed as many 'firsts' in for her as possible. There was no structure to that day whatsoever – no therapy, flash cards, PT/OT or Speech exercises – just a day of fun, a day of being three. So you see, when the nurse came to me with that bag of curls the reason I lost it wasn’t so much about the ‘hair’. I cried because what I was being presented with were remnants of her innocence with the possibility that all I'd have left of her when the ordeal was over would be the contents of that Ziplock bag and a lot of second guessing myself. I scrounged around looking for that bag of curls after I got home that evening and when I found it I still cried. I cried not for the loss of innocence, but for progress Madi continues to make and the possibilities she now has because of Dr. Angelo Patil and UNMC.
I’m happy to report that eleven years, four months and eight days post-surgery Madi remains seizure free.
Karol – You are an inspiration! Thanks for the uplifting story of love and friendship!
Karol — what a GREAT story to share with us, vicki
VERY COOL!!