Posted on 07/15/2002 5:52:56 AM PDT by NewHampshireDuo
MILFORD – As Brittany Smith got ready to blow out the candles on a huge sheet cake marking her 16th birthday, it’s doubtful any of the 60 or so people who came to her home on Sunday to celebrate wondered what her wish was going to be.
Nobody knows for sure, because wishes don’t come true if you tell what they are. But most likely, Brittany’s had something to do with the major operation she’s undergoing next month to get a new kidney.
Brittany’s mom, Christine Smith, threw the all-day barbecue and party, not only for Brittany’s Sweet 16, but also to treat and thank many people in town and the region for volunteering their time and finding ways to help her family make ends meet during her daughter’s illness.
Brittany has faced a string of medical issues since a childhood bout with bacterial meningitis destroyed her kidneys. She had a transplant, but on Thanksgiving in 2000, her body rejected the new kidney, forcing a holiday trip to the emergency room. Brittany learned she needed dialysis, a thrice-weekly in-hospital treatment that cleans the blood, doing the work of her missing kidneys.
It wasn’t long before money became a serious problem for the Smiths. Having just moved from Georgia to care for Christine Smith’s dying mother, the family didn’t know many people in town. Their problems were compounded when Christine was injured in a car accident. Then the family wasn’t able to stay in their house. But Brittany still needed to get to Children’s Hospital in Boston three times a week for dialysis.
Aug. 27 is the date set now for Brittany’s transplant at Children’s. She’s getting a kidney from a man she’s yet to meet. In an ironic twist, her sister, Emily, 18, also figures into things.
Here’s how: When Emily was tested as a possible donor for Brittany, she wasn’t a match, but the hospital found another patient in need of a kidney who did match Emily. And that patient, another teen-age girl, happens to be the daughter of the man who is giving Brittany her kidney.
A slight girl with red highlights in her short, brown hair, Brittany bounced from table to table to meet and greet her party guests. She mingled with friends, looking nothing like a typical dialysis patient. She watched, as did others, especially the boys, while sister Emily dominated the dusty space that served as a dance floor.
Eminem’s “Without Me” started playing on the stereo as Brittany looked around the yard. “They’re all so nice for coming,” she said. Was it a surprise? “Some of it,” Brittany said, knowing of the party but not of all the different guests.
A girl of few words, she quickly returned to her friends and the music.
Dawn Locicero, a resident and wife of fire Capt. Al Locicero, got to know the Smiths when they often rode the same bus to and from Boston, where Dawn worked. They sat in the shade at Sunday’s party.
“I sort of befriended them because I saw what they were going through,” Dawn Locicero said. “I knew how tough that bus trip is, and couldn’t imagine doing it sick like she was. I knew they didn’t know anyone to ask for help, and I did – so I began to think of ways to help them.”
She mentioned it to her husband, and things got started. Al Locicero knew an apartment in a Nashua Street building owned by the town library was vacant, so he appealed, successfully, to library officials to let them live there.
Since then, other town firefighters jumped on board and have been active in helping the family.
Now, getting to dialysis is a bit easier for Brittany – she goes to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua, but still needs rides. A volunteer transportation organization called Friends in Service Helping learned of Brittany’s ride needs and stepped up.
Alden Center, one of about 60 FISH drivers, was present Sunday.
“Brittany’s just a charming young lady – she’s our favorite client,” Center said over blaring rock music. “She needs the rides so much – we’re so glad to help out.”
Cheryl Webster, an elementary school teacher and member of the middle school PTO where her son, Tyler, is a classmate and friend of Brittany’s, was there at the beginning.
“I know Boston pretty well so I drove her in at first,” she said. “Brittany is such a trooper – my son counts his blessings, seeing what she’s going through.”
Meanwhile, in between making sure guests were eating enough and stressing over the late arrival of a hired clown, Christine Smith gestured toward an area near a picnic table where several guests whom she met at an online chatroom sat. “These are all my AOL people,” she said. “They’ve all helped so much in one way or another.”
Dawnna Whitcher, one of those new cyber-friends, has firsthand experience of how devastating kidney ailments can be.
“I first joined the chatroom because my father had bad kidneys,” Whitcher said. “He died because he couldn’t get a transplant.”
Whitcher, who lives in Manchester and works in the Head Start program there, said she’s been corresponding with the Smiths because she wants to do what she can so things turn out better for Brittany.
“Today (the party) is a wonderful show of support for Brittany,” Whitcher added.
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