7.26.2007

Katie Michel (Day 79)

It was a dark, snow covered night during the thanksgiving season when my then girlfriend and I had an argument regarding which bus stop to go to in order to catch the shuttle to the airport resulting in us being stuck in downtown Pittsburgh expecting to either be late for or miss our flight to Philadelphia. With stress levels as high as our suitcases were heavy, we crossed Liberty Avenue and ducked into a Dunkin' Donuts with our cell phones in our cold and desperate hands looking at each other wondering who we could call to help us in making our flight on time.

After a few minutes of my girlfriend trying to call some of her friends, a thought came to me - "I wonder if Katie Michel is around..." I searched my phone book quicker than I ever had before and pressed "send" when I arrived at her name. To my favor, Katie was at home, and agreed to come across town to chauffeur my girlfriend and I to the airport.

Twenty minutes later, Katie Michel came down Liberty Avenue in the snow, smiling behind the wheel of the four-door she had named Rutherford for a reason I either never knew or can't remember. As Katie pulled over over, my girlfriend and I jammed our luggage into the car where we could, and thanked her the entire way to the airport which was still a thousand times less than we should have. Promising something special for her when we returned from our holiday, Katie just smiled, and told us we didn't have to do anything for her and wished us a good and safe trip.

Not expecting anything in return for the kindness and generosity she gave to others is a quality that makes Katie Michel stand out in my mind. Never did it seem that Katie was doing me a favor, or that I was inconveniencing her in anyway - instead, if ever I needed anything from her, it always seemed as though she wasn't only willing or able to do it, but that she actually wanted to do it.

Living each day to it's fullest is a saying we hear a lot, but that's exactly how Katie lived her life. Diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, and having been through a lung transplant by the time I had met her, Katie Michel made the most of every day she was given knowing that each day she had was a gift - another day she had beaten her odds.

It was in the spring following her holiday rescue of my girlfriend and I that I overheard Katie cough and knew her lungs were in rejection. As quick as I asked her about it, she told me not to worry, that she was switching medications and was hopeful that the symptoms would subside. A few months later though, she was admitted back to the hospital which is where she would stay until July 24th, 2007 when she passed away at the age of 24.

Two days before I left Pittsburgh, the last thing she ever said to me with the help of a nurse was "I love you." It took all the energy I had to hold back my tears until I made it out of the hospital and called my sister to tell her about the kind of friend I had, and how unfair it was that this was happening to her. As long as I knew her, though, Katie Michel was always a strong and hopeful person who kept a positive attitude through all her hard times. A great friend, and the best kind of human being you could hope to have in your life are what will keep her special to me.

I spoke with her brother earlier today, and her family is asking those who knew her to make donations to a scholarship fund. If any of you have been touched by her life, or perhaps even just this story, feel free to visit www.olsh.org, to donate.