The cool side of journalism

After what was a busy week at the newspaper last week. I had the opportunity to interview Jessica Wozniak about their son’s extended stay in Marshfield at the hospital. Malachi was born at 28 weeks and has been in the hospital since he was born in June.

The story she told me was one of constant battles. Her and her husband Steve have been battling time as they try to find enough time in their busy lives to run to Marshfield to visit Malachi every day. Malachi has his own battles every day. He has been through surgery, foreign tubes being placed in his lungs and any other number of procedures. But he is still battling.

It baffles me to see a tiny human who has so much fight in him. There are days where I don’t even want to get out of bed and yet this newborn baby wakes up, puts on his hard hat and fights to grow and overcome sickness. It kind of puts life in perspective.

Jessica told me about the initial shock of going in for a checkup and then weeks or maybe even days later, having to be admitted to the hospital for an emergency C-section. As my wife and I get closer to the age we want to be at where we would think about having kids, it’s important to acknowledge that pregnancy is a scary thing. Just as with any sort of sudden change to the body, it can bring complications that shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s tough for me to put myself there mentally but I think as we enter this time in our lives, it’s important to get into that mind set that things might not go as planned and we’ll have to roll with the punches.

I am extremely grateful to Jessica and Steve for telling me their story. Every day, there are people who have their monthly checkup during pregnancy and find out something is wrong. That has got to be one of the toughest rooms to be in. Although the Wozniaks’ situation brings a fair amount of stress, sadness or probably even anger, there is one main good thing that supersedes it all.

That family is full of fighters and they have a fighter in that hospital that is doing everything he can to make it home to his parents and sister. I think that is the coolest thing and the way they are handling it all should be made into a handbook for people who might be going through a similar issue.

It’s fitting to me that Jessica is a guidance counselor and Steve is a guidance counselor turned principal. They both have experience in talking to people and helping them through the ailments that they might have. Now, every day, our community gets to see it first hand as they carry on with strength and grace.

Thank you to the Wozniaks for sharing with me and the community what you’re going through and I hope to keep following Malachi’s inspirational journey.

Speeding

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