Meet Jackie from Ventura County, California

Our newest hero is Jackie from Ventura County, California.  Jackie is a shift leader at a bakery-deli and her dream is to give back to Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles for the outstanding care they took of her newborn daughter who had suffered a stroke just weeks after her birth.  This is also her daughter's dream who is now 12 years old.  They plan to inundate the children at the hospital with toys, games, laptop computers, motor scooters (for kids in wheelchairs), library books, a massage chair, and a big screen TV.  They will also provide special flight suits for doctors and nurses on life-saving helicopter flights.

These flights suits will also include helmets fitted with built-in microphones so the doctors and nurses can communicate. Jackie and her daughter have chosen specific toys and games for each age group from rattles, crib toys, and one-sies for newborns, to soft dolls and pop-up toys for toddlers, to model planes, Barbie/Bratz dolls, and action figures for school age kids. Then there are ipods, dvd and cd players, Nintendos & Wii for older kids, and the list goes on. When the items are finally delivered, we’ll post a complete list.

I surprised Jackie at her home with the news that she will be giving this wonderful gift to the Childrens Hospital. Damon and I drove there and met with a reporter and photographer from the Ventura County Star. Damon shot some video of the surprise which will be posted next week, and he also took pictures, some of which are already over there to the left. What a great family, and Arnie used to live just outside Chicago, where I taped my talk show.

Jackie and Hannah will be visiting the hospital personally before finalizing their mega shopping list. It's this extra effort to make sure the hospital receives exactly what they need that makes this hero a true role model. Imagine how lucky her children are to have Jackie's footsteps to follow in life.

On March 4th, mom and daughter were also featured on B95 radio with "Bo in the Morning."

In her own words, here is Jackie's account of Hannah's experience at Childrens Hospital...

When Hannah was born, almost immediately she developed a blocked tear duct in her left eye. After a few weeks of trying
to un-block the tear duct with conventional methods (compresses), we were told Hannah needed to have surgery to
correct it. The day after surgery we were shopping and I started to feed her a bottle and I noticed one of her iris' were red and the other was blue. When I called the Pediatric Ophthalmologist's office that day they told me that could not possibly be....

When I brought Hannah to the doctor's the following day before they told me what they felt was going on they called my husband at work and asked him to come to the office so they could talk to both of us. They told us the Hannah had a
stroke, and and they did not know why. The stroke (Vein Eye Occlusion) exploded in Hannah's left eye and she became
blind in her her left eye at 6 weeks old. We were told if the stroke had gone anywhere else it would have killed her.

We ended up at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles because of their reputation. We saw a Hematology Doctor named Thomas
Hofstra who to this day we credit with saving Hannah's life as well as diagnosing her. She was diagnosed with "Protein C Dificiency" ( they explained to us that her blood was too thick) so they put her on anticoagulation with Coumadin. She stayed on the meds for about 6 months. For the first year of Hannah's life we visited Children's just about every week. After about a year Hannah grew out of the Protein C Deficiency, but not the effects of the stroke on her eye.

She has no depth perception and she cannot see the 3D part of a 3D movie. Over the years she has played Soccer, Softball,
Dance and Track and Field. She is also a honor student. Unfortunately, she will always be "legally blind" in her left eye. For Hannah this is all she knows. Although she can see (only) the top line of the eye chart with her left eye, we have been told by the doctors that she does not even use her left eye and essentially turns it off and uses only her good eye to see.

The future is endless for Hannah. She has overcome so many obstacles in her young life that we cannot imagine anything she can't do.

Jackie and Arnie

Diary Starts Here

August 20, 2008
Childrens Hospital finally received the last of Jackie's gifts this morning. Three months ago Jackie and I personally delivered a truck full of toys, notebooks, games, computers, TVs, books, movies, and flight suits, but we've been waiting for a Starlight Starbright Fun Center to arrive and it finally did. Damon and I met Jackie at the hospital where we were given a VIP tour and then a dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting of the new Fun Center. Dr. Hofstra was there and I even got a lesson in Wii games from Jackie's son Jered. Then everyone watched while I bowled with Ivan, a 9-year old patient at the hospital. Dr. Hofstra thanked Jackie and me and said that the memory notebooks Jackie donated were a great idea and were being used by many of the parents. It was a great morning and we are very proud of Jackie, our fourth hero of 2008.

June 27, 2008
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!! Today is Jackie and Arnie's 15th wedding anniversary. Mazel Tov!

June 23, 2008
Believe it or not, Jackie's gifts are not all delivered yet. One of the coolest ones she purchased is the Ninendo Wii Fun Center and she says it will be ready for delivery in just about a month. From what I've heard about them, it will be worth the wait.

June 2, 2008
Good news: The flight suits finally arrived and the staff of the hospital's Emergency Transport Services said to express their thanks for the gift that will help keep them safe during flight!

May 15, 2008
This was a very special day. We finally delivered all of Jackie's gifts to Childrens Hospital! They set up a table outside in the Healing Garden and we piled up a bunch of the gifts on it, then they invited some of the staff and a few of the young patients to join us. I talked a bit about Jackie and how personal this was for her. Her daughter's life was saved at this hospital and she could have simply asked for a donation to be made in her behalf but instead, she chose to provide exactly what they needed. She went to the hospital first and asked what they needed the most. Then she went shopping. Jackie personally selected every single item that was given to this outstanding organization, from every single book and DVD to the big screen TVs and flight suits. Here's what Jackie delivered to Childrens Hospital today:
~9 Helicopter Flight Suits and Helmets
~2 HD Big Screen TVs
~4 Lap Top Computers
~6 Portable DVD Players
~A 5-Disc DVD Player
~80 DVDs
~25 Computer Games
~80 Books
~A Wii Fun Center
~100 Memory Notebooks
~100 Embroidered Blankets
~Various Toys & Stuffed Animals
~$1,000 to cover TV installations
Jackie was thoughful enough to make sure we covered the cost of installing the new TVs. She selected the words to embroider on all the blankets. And with the flight suits, she only purchased four of them, the other five she got donated from an old high school friend. What are the odds? Her friend Andy Cooper was a C-130E flight engineer w/the 146th Tactical Airlift Wing. Hey Andy, thank you so much!! (send us your picture)

We are so proud of Jackie for all the gifts she delivered today to Childrens Hospital. They will bring joy to many children and their parents for years to come. Jackie, Mazel Tov on your MItzvah!

May 14, 2008
Damon rented a truck this morning, then he and Denis drove to Jackie's house to pick up all the gifts for Childrens Hospital. They also stopped at Best Buy to pick up some TVs since there was no room in Jackie's home to store them. It's a big truckload of stuff! But what happened was they drove from our house to the truck rental, left the car there, got the truck, and headed out. On the way back, they were supposed to swing by the rental place to get the car and bring both the truck and the car back to the house. They forgot and left the car there! So they just left in another car to go get the first car. It was pretty funny. We're all getting ready for the big delivery tomorrow.

May 11, 2008
It's going to be an exciting week. We are delivering Jackie's gifts to Childrens Hospital on Thursday. It's $25,000 worth of toys, games, DVDs, electronics, flight suits and more. Since I live here too, I'll get to be there when a truckload of presents pulls up at the front entrance of the hospital. Jackie and Arnie will be there with their children and we'll take lots of pictures to share with everyone.

April 8, 2008
Jackie has spent a lot of time on her project because it's so personal for her. She has already purchased computers, notebooks, blankets, books, and video games for the Children's Hospital. TV's are next. All of her purchases were customized by Jackie and we truly appreciate the time she has put in, as well as coordinating with the hospital to make sure they get exactly what they need.

March 18, 2008
Jackie has been working hard putting her massive gift package together for the Children's Hospital. She's already been to the hospital, met with the Starlight Foundation, ordered books from Amazon, bargain shopped at Best Buy, and she even has flight suits already. It won't be long before it's all ready to be delivered to the hospital. If you look up "pro-active" in the dictionary, you just might see Jackie's picture. We think that's terrific.

March 7, 2008
Jackie and Hannah visited the Childrens Hospital today and met with Dr. Hofstra, who treated Hannah over ten years ago. They discussed what things the hospital needed most and then they were given a VIP tour of the place. They even got to tour the helipad which few people ever get to see. Jackie took photos and we will post them as soon as we receive them.