When You Wish Upon a Star...
12/24/2006
Jaymun was moved back into the HOT
unit this morning. No one was more happy than we were
to be back where there are familiar faces. Nurse Bonnie was there to greet our
little boy with welcome arms. His readmittance to the
HOT unit was about as nice of a Christmas gift that we could hope for,
considering that just two weeks ago today things were not looking well for him
at all. Jaymun is extremely worn out from his ICU
experience...his doctors are pleased with his progress, but it will be awhile
until he returns to his former happy, cheerful self. Right now we are working
on weaning him from all the sedation and morphine that have helped make his pain
bearable during the past two weeks. It's a slow process because of all the
constant, loud stimulation that happened down in the ICU. For now, we need
to make things as soft and quiet as possible to ease him back into
"normalcy".
Hopefully, Jaymun's story speaks
volumes about the compassion and love we are all capable of if we just look
outside of ourselves and seek ways to bless other people. I always enjoy
passing along examples of kindness and generosity with the readers of our
website in the hopes that it inspires other people to do the same. It gives me
great pleasure to share this one with you....
It started a few months ago when I was searching for a gift
to give our son Devon for being Jaymun's bone marrow donor. Devon
gets mentioned quite frequently on this website, for the sole reason that he
and Jaymun are so closely linked together for
life. We were lucky to have even one of our children match Jaymun's bone marrow, as there is only a 25% chance of
a perfect match. We've been told countless times of large families who are
saddened to realize that none of the siblings match. A search for a
worldwide marrow donor can take months, sometimes years, and many times ends in
failure.
I wanted to find a gift for Devon that
would remind him every time he looked at it of his bravery on behalf of his
baby brother. Something spectacular and one-of-a-kind,
something that he wouldn't outgrow in the near future. Devon has a great love for the solar system. He's fascinated with books about the
planets and stars and galaxies. Our family is always being "educated"
on some interesting fact he's picked up along the way. In fact, Devon's next goal is to save enough money to buy a
telescope. I searched the Internet hoping to find a gift that would
capture this passion of his--it took me awhile, but then I stumbled on
THIS SITE. I immediately knew it was perfect, but was disheartened to see
there was no mural artist here in Wisconsin
or even nearby. I emailed the owner of Night Sky Murals and explained our
situation, asking if he perhaps knew of anyone else who did something
similar and lived closer. I was thinking that maybe we could hire someone
to paint a smaller mural on Devon's
ceiling, as the cost was not in the budget of a family whose medical issues
have stretched their finances.
Shortly thereafter, I received an email from the owner, Jeff
Stewart, offering to fly out and paint Devon's
ceiling for no charge whatsoever. All he asked was that we pay
for his travel expenses. I was thrilled beyond words, needless to say. A
complete stranger who felt compelled to do something non gratus for a little boy? It's becoming a
rareity these days to meet such a person. The
very next day, I received another email from Jeff, telling me he was out in California painting a
mural and that he had mentioned Jaymun's story
to his customer. The customer offered to pay for Jeff's plane ticket on the
spot. (Did I mention this wonderful news came on the very heavy, very emotional day we had to
sign Jaymun's consent form for transplant??)
I picked Jeff up from the airport this past
Tuesday while Devon was at school. He set up
the room and began to perform his "magic" (which we still
can't figure out, as Jeff paints by himself, with no one watching). You
should have seen Devon's face when he came
upstairs to find a strange man sitting on the couch! Jeff told the kids to lay
down on the beds and floor and cover their eyes. Devon had no idea what was going on.
All went dark and then behold! there was light. Lots of it.
There is no way to describe the ceiling mural. Picture a starry night, with
thousands of lights pinpointed in the black sky. Add a Milky Way galaxy, a
comet, and several constellations.... that's what Jeff
skillfully reproduced on Devon's ceiling. The
longer we lay looking at the ceiling, the more 3-D the stars became.
Devon's ecstatic reaction
was as you might expect. Jeff told me he thought this was better than any
paid job he's ever done. We are so indebted to him for his generosity and his
incredible gift to our son. Every night as Devon
drifts off to sleep, he can gaze up at a starry sky and be reminded of the
special gift he gave to Jaymun. The paint lasts for
hours and some of the stars are still visible even in the early morning light.
The great thing about the mural is that it's completely undetectable in
daylight-you'd never guess the stars are there until the lights go out. We
anticipate lots of camping out in Devon's room
in the future with all of his siblings sharing in the adventure. Jeff told
Devon that he is the only person in Wisconsin
with a star ceiling mural. (I think we successfully accomplished the
"one-of-a-kind" portion of Devon's gift!)
I promised Jeff I'd post a link to his
website, even though he protested it wasn't necessary. It's the least I can do for him, and I have
no problem whatsoever promoting his stunning work. It speaks for itself, truly.
Our kids are amazed at how realistic it looks, and I'm still in shock that Jeff
would take out time from his busy schedule to help us bless Devon.
He even took our kids outside that night to point out all the constellations he
could see in the sky above our house! And if you think his kindness to our
family is a wonderful thing, wait until you hear the rest of the story. Oh
yes, there's more...
Jeff also offered to paint a room at the hospital while he
was here! Children's Hospital is now the proud owner of an official Night Sky
Mural ceiling as well. We drove him down to work on a cancer patient room
before he flew back to Utah later that day. I can't express what his work will mean to all the little boys
and girls who are lucky enough to stay in that beautiful room during their
treatments. It brings a smile to my face to think of them actually looking
forward to nighttime approaching in the hospital.
I hope, I hope, that Jeff's gift to our family
brings him back blessings tenfold. If any of you are interested in having him
paint a mural for you or think it would make a fantastic anniversary or a
unique birthday gift for a loved one, please
contact him.
You will not be sorry. I promise the end result will be worth every penny! He has invested
many, many years of honing his craft to reproduce a product that leaves the
owner speechless. He is even able to accurately reproduce, looking back
at star charts, the way the sky looked on a particular night, such as the
date of a special occasion! I am a great admirer of handmade artwork--this
mural is by far one of the most spectacular sights I've yet to encounter.
Thank you so much, Jeff. I know we will never
forget you. Nor will Devon. I'm glad to
think that somewhere in the great state of Utah, a very kind man with a very
big heart is "creating light" not only on ceilings, but in the hearts
of children.
