Classmates rally around ‘full-of-life little girl’
By Judy Masterson jmasterson@stmedianetwork.com February 2, 2012 6:40PM
Students at Our Lady of Humility School walk past photos and poster for 5th grade student Haley Bjorn of Zion who suffers from leukemia. | Thomas Delany Jr~ Sun-Times Media
Benefit dinner
Our Lady of Humility Parish School will host a benefit spaghetti dinner from 4:15 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10 in the Parish Center, 10601 W. Wadsworth Road, Beach Park.
Proceeds will go to help pay the medical expenses of OLH fifth-grader Haylee Bjorn, who is hospitalized with leukemia.
The event will include a basket drawing and bake sale. Admission is $8 adults, $5 seniors and children; free for under 3. Tickets are an additional $1 at the door.
To buy tickets in advance or for more inforamtion, call OLH School at (847) 746-3722.
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Updated: April 3, 2012 1:57AM
BEACH PARK — Students at Our Lady of Humility School learned upon their return from winter break that classmate Haylee Bjorn is in a fight for her life.
The little red-haired girl who is quick to smile, loves dolphins and who has no shortage of best friends among the other 10-year-old girls in her class, was diagnosed with leukemia two days before Christmas. The “typical, wonderful, very full-of-life little girl” who has long been a part of the OLH community, was suddenly absent.
But while Haylee now sits in a hospital bed at Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee instead of behind a desk in Peggy Loomis’ cheerful fifth-grade classroom, she has never been more present — to her friends, their families, the entire school community and beyond.
OLH school has rallied around the girl who is bravely undergoing what can be a brutal regimen of drug therapies used to treat her disease. Students, who recently learned that Haylee won’t be returning this school year due to her susceptibility to infection, write to her, talk to her on speakerphone, pray for her daily. Some have even made the trip to her bedside.
The school is also raising money through several fund-raisers to help the Bjorn family cover unmet medical expenses. Proceeds from 50/50 drawings held at home games are quickly delivered to the family’s home in Zion by Athletic Director Mike Jones. A spaghetti dinner and benefit is scheduled for Feb. 10.
The care, concern and prayer, especially the prayer, for Haylee Bjorn highlight the specialness of the parochial school during Catholic Schools Week, an annual celebration of the Chicago Archdiocese that runs through Sunday.
Bob Ochsner of Beach Park, a deacon at OLH Parish, said the response to the Bjorn family crisis underscores the deeply personal value of Catholic education.
“It’s been an overwhelming thing,” said Ochsner, whose family received its own communal hug after the loss of his son Jim, a Green Beret who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. “The whole school has joined together to pray for Haylee and to support her family.
“At every school Mass on Friday, we get an update on her condition. We’re a small parish, a small school and we practice the Christian spirit of charity. That what it’s all about. We’re living the faith.”
The task of breaking the news of Haylee’s diagnosis fell to OLH Principal Patrick Browne. Students wanted to know where leukemia comes from, why her, can this happen to me?
“I told them we don’t know why things like this happen, but that when they do happen, we have the power to respond in a positive way,” Browne said. “Children by nature are very positive. They’re naturally so much more resilient than adults. On my visits to Haylee, I’ve never seen her depressed.”
That first day back from Christmas vacation, Browne told his 280 students: “We’re not going to forget about Haylee. She will continue to be a part of us.”
He instructed that, in addition to the regular morning prayer, a prayer of healing for Haylee be added to the end of each school day.
“Our teacher says God listens to the prayers of little kids before adults,” said one of Haylee’s numerous best friends.
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