How Many Angels Does It Take
The remarkabe Life of Heather Rose Brooks
by
Betty Wilson Beamguard
Author Bio / Introduction / Comments
Betty Beamguard’s account of an amazing young woman who is living a full and interesting life despite the crippling effects of cerebral palsy is skillfully written and well-reported. Heather’s story, along with those of the many generous friends who have helped her, will provide hope to many, and inspiration to us all.
—Marcia Preston
author of The Butterfly House, The Piano Man, and more
How Many Angels Does It Take is the story of two extraordinary women, Heather Rose Brooks and her mother, Dr. Janice Strang, plus the people who have helped them throughout Heather’s life. Heather is known for her delightful laugh and, more recently, for driving a horse-drawn carriage with her feet. This incredible accomplishment required a host of angels of the earthbound variety and a lot of hard work and persistence on Heather’s part.
On April 25, 1981, Bill and Janice Brooks’ baby girl came into this world fighting for every breath. She’s been fighting to survive and achieve ever since.
In the ‘70s and ‘80s, home birthing and natural childbirth gained in popularity as the public became aware that thousands of babies had been harmed by the anesthesia given to mothers during labor. A nurse-midwife, who taught at Life College near Atlanta where the Brooks were studying to become chiropractors, had delivered the babies of other students without problems, so Bill and Janice decided a home birth would be the best option for them and their baby.
Janice faithfully visited her obstetrician for checkups and followed his advice. Even though her pregnancy ran three weeks past the due date, the doctor didn’t seem concerned, so she and Bill stuck to their original plan for the baby to be born at home.
The near-perfect pregnancy ended with problems. After twelve hours of labor, Bill phoned for an ambulance, but the driver got lost. He called a second time and gave additional directions, but the driver didn’t locate their home until after the baby had come.
It’s no wonder the birth was difficult. Heather Rose Brooks weighed ten and three-quarters pounds and measured twenty-one inches long. While in the womb, she ingested meconium, the substance in the bowels of fetuses. Pulling it into her lungs caused seizures and a shortage of oxygen. The Brooks’ little girl spent the next two weeks in intensive care struggling to live. She had trouble nursing, so Janice pumped breast milk to give her the best chance for survival.
During that time, the baby was diagnosed with CP (cerebral palsy). The disabilities associated with CP vary in degree and type, but symptoms can include poor muscle control, spasticity, mental retardation, seizures, behavioral problems, difficulty swallowing or speaking, breathing problems, and even poor eyesight and hearing. Those possibilities presented quite a load for the new parents to bear. No one could tell them what to expect—only that Heather would be their baby for a very long time.
Janice’s mom and dad, John and Mildred Strang, were very supportive after Heather’s birth. Although they were far away in Illinois, they helped out financially and with encouraging phone calls. Bill’s mother had passed away not long after he graduated from high school, and his dad died five years later from a massive stroke, but Bill’s Atlanta grandmother, Isabel McBath, and his aunt, Marion Murphy, helped the couple in whatever ways they could.
Nurses in the ICU were extremely caring, but one nurse told Janice that had she “done things differently,” her baby would have been okay. Janice admits the nurse was right, but at the time, she and Bill had honestly believed they were making the right choice with a home birth. Most people simply accepted the circumstances and gave them support without assigning blame.
Janice could have placed her daughter in an institution and let the state care for her. She and Bill could have gone on with their lives as if Heather had never been born, but they refused to consider that option. Having never known her own birth parents, Janice was determined to give her baby girl a mother’s love and care.
She returned to classes in the summer, leaving Heather in the care of Linda Keating, who lived near the college and kept the children of other students. Janice could run over to Linda’s to nurse Heather between classes. Since she had little time to study after classes, work, and caring for her newborn, Janice saw her grades plummet. She was forced to cut back on her class load, which meant she graduated a year later than Bill. Heather was three.
When Heather was five, Bill and Janice divorced, and she took back her maiden name. Rather than crumble in self-pity, Janice rose to the challenge, expending whatever time, energy, or money it took to give Heather the most comfortable and fulfilling life possible, and to help others in similar situations.
Reverend Eda Long says:If Heather is an earth angel, then Janice is an archangel momma. Janice has been a rich and deeply inspired and creative mother, therapist, nurse, friend and guide for Heather. I just don’t know anyone else who has or would go thru all Janice has to create such a normal life...such a full and experiential world for a child with as much inherent restriction and with so many challenges to survival as Heather has. Janice treats Heather so much like a normal child in many ways...there is such a deep knowing and acceptance of her conditions and at the same time such a non-acceptance of limitation and willingness to push thru and beyond and to try to improve and decrease resistance in what is. She is an incredibly wise and astute and intuitive doctor who mothers this child.
“To Janice there aren’t challenges, just opportunities for creativity and solutions,” says John O’Connor, Heather’s former elementary school teacher.
Janice didn’t face those hard times alone. She says she always felt God’s hand, and she and Heather had their angels—people touched by their needs who cheerfully contributed whatever they could in emotional support, money, goods, knowledge, and skills.
“Heather delights in every day with joy and enthusiasm,” says Janice. “To experience her life, it truly is awesome. So many people have been brought together, and given of themselves and their talents to share in Heather’s life. What a privilege it is to share in such wonderful friendships. The freedom that Heather feels when she drives her horse, her chair or operates her computer is the freedom that all of us feel when we get outside ourselves and achieve the improbable.”
Her daughter’s happiness makes Janice’s efforts worthwhile. Not only has Heather enjoyed life, she has touched the lives of others in ways large and small, bringing couples together, helping people with disabilities through the devices invented for her, and showing the world what a person can accomplish with a can-do attitude and a little help from friends.
Betty Beamguard grew up in Tennessee and lives near Clover, South Carolina. Her features, short stories, poems, and humorous essays have appeared in anthologies, literary journals, and such magazines as The Writer, Sasee, ByLine, and South Carolina Magazine.