MICHAEL MANNNG'S 10 BLOGS OF APRIL PAST: THE CONCLUSION: (#1)

Photo: Courtesy of Michael E. Keating

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Easily one of the most important BLOGS I 've ever posted, this originally appeared on my website back in September, 2005 and again the following January. It also is a fitting close to my "10 Blogs of April Past!"

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Jenna McVey personifies what real Courage means to me. She is a Hero to me. Here is her story as I told it 4 years ago. It is an Honor to be able to share it with you again.

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Those of you who have followed this BLOG over the past summer recall that my heartstrings were grabbed from merely picking up the morning paper over a cup of coffee and seeing the young lady pictured above, Jenna McVey, 16 of Fort Thomas, Kentucky. My thanks to The Cincinnati Enquirer's Michael E. Keating for capturing this image; I'm sorry I couldn't make it clearer, but had my friend Tricia (who was introduced to me by Denny Shane) not stepped in to help me with my lack of software to convert this picture, many of you would not understand what I was talking about last September 26, 2005.

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This High School Junior has more Heart and more Courage than most adults I've met in my short life. A beautiful Belgium Draft Horse with a strawberry reddish brown coat and blond locks stood absolutely alone in a stall, after an infection turned her beautiful round Blue Eyes into a milky white color and left her permanently blind due to a virulent infection. Her name is "Nelly"; many call her "Blind Beauty". This horse isn't even supposed to be alive! But for the Grace of Jenna: "She never got out (of her stall) so I felt sorry for her. I just saw her and fell in love with her".

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Well, as friendships---even special Love develops over time--Jenna started visiting the lonely horse more often. After school, she brought her school books and read her assignments or her favorite childhood tales aloud to "Nelly". Blind for 2 years, the horse was scheduled to be sent to a processing plant to be killed--a Legislation post I recently shared on January 21st and encouraged all of you to sign off on to prevent this cruelty.

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Today, thanks must go to Jenna's parents. They purchased the beautiful horse and gave her Life. She even responds to her shortened name, "Beauty". Jenna and the horse bonded in Love and in Trust. They protect one another. "Nelly is my favorite thing", Jenna says. "I'd rather come out here and sit with her in a stall than have a million dollars".

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Here is a sweet young girl who has her priorities in order. My only regret is that I couldn't bring you the photo at the top of this page sooner. My own personal philosophy is that God definitely had a hand in my finding this story and leading me to Tricia ( of "Wood Not Wood" via Denny Shane of "My Anything But Normal Life" Blog Fame) who scanned the photo for me when I was technically challenged. This photo serves to shed light in a world that seems to grow darker with so much negativity in the Media. It doesn't have to be this way! There are good stories and happy endings to tell and this is one of them.

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Jenna made a difference. Her parents should be very proud of her and I hope one day to be able to meet all of them and share a NEW picture with my young Hero! Miracles can and do happen if we have the Will to see them through.

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Post Script, 2009: So much has changed in four years. Denny Shane is sadly no longer able to post on his Blogsite. Tricia Weight has a book published as does another dear friend of mine, Kathryn Magendie. Cincinnati Enquirer Photographer Michael E. Keaton and I spoke twice by telephone. We both tried to locate The McVey Family for me to visit them for a follow-up BLOG. But it was not to be. What is most important for me is that Jenna's story has now been shared!

Michael