Sorry everyone, the draft has come and gone and you best be sured that I WILL give each NFL team their grade. But first I wanted to let you know that I started this blog as a class project for my Multi-Media Communications class. And in the class we were responsible for doing a featured article, podcast, and a vodcast. So I wanted to post those for you all to see and critique.
Radio Podcast
Streets of NY: Exploring Times Square
Video Podcast
STJ Relay for Life: Where Living Happens...
By Brandon Mark Wilson/ brandon.wilson07@stjohns.edu
MMC Reporter
4:47 p.m. EST, February 24, 2010
HE Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
“The road is long, with many of winding turns
That lead us to (who knows) where, who knows where?
But I'm strong, strong enough to carry him - yeah
He ain't heavy - he's my brother.
So on we go
His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he to bear
We'll get there
For I know
He would not encumber me
He ain't heavy, he's my brother”
Those are the opening lines for the hit song most popularly performed by the Hollies, “He Aint Heavy, He’s My Brother.” For Thomas Bisogno these words were in his heart in 1985.
You see at the early age of twelve, Thomas’s younger brother, Michael, was diagnosed with a rare form of kidney disease. The disease also negatively impacted Michael’s blood pressure, causing him to develop hypertension. Since that point he had to take various types of medication to treat both of his conditions. Michael did, however, live a happy enough childhood, even after the illness; he played noncontact sports like softball, worked happily at the local Deli, played cards, spent Sundays watching major league baseball with his brother (Thomas), travelled to six flags and sporting events with his friends; he was no different than most other kids his age, except for his kidney issue.
It was at that point in 1985 when Michael’s kidneys finally gave out on him. Mrs. Bisogno (mother to both boys) mentioned to her eldest son, Thomas that Michael was in desperate need of a transplant for him to stay alive and Thomas preceded in doing what was needed for his brother without hesitation. He said to his mother that if he was a match, he would definitely volunteer for the transplant… and he was indeed a match.
It was on a Sunday at Albert Einstein Medical Center in the Bronx, that both Thomas and Michael were admitted. The surgery would be the next day and it was that night that Thomas laid on the hospital bed staring up at the off white ceiling of the room when he first felt anxiety. That off white ceiling was not just so, it was also a representation of the unknown that faced him in the following day; the questions, the doubts, the fear. But Thomas endured that night and came away more focused in his mission, understanding full well his own strength and understanding that Michael was NOT a burden, Michael was his brother.
Sadly though, Mrs. Bisogno, could not be there for her sons on the day of the transplant for she had passed away prior, but Thomas’s sacrifice meant that he was able to at least give life and love to his younger brother. As he was wheeled into the operation room Thomas’s doubts, his questions, his fears all once again flooded his head… and then he remembered his purpose and regained his calm. Thomas woke up after the procedure and spent the next seven days in the hospital occupied by the constant boredom of television reruns and old magazines on the night stand, while waiting for visitors to arrive. After his release from the hospital, for five weeks, he was off of work recovering. His brother Michael was not as fortunate and had to stay in the hospital for three months worth of old magazines and television reruns.
Michael lived for another four years after the transplant procedure took place, dying in 1989 at the age of only 24. His loss was a great loss for the Bisogno and extended family and all of Michael’s friends. But that lost was delayed, even if only for a short time, due in large part to Thomas’s efforts.
“If I'm laden at all
I'm laden with sadness
That everyone's heart
Isn't filled with the gladness
Of love for one another
It's a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we're on the way to there
Why not share
And the load
Doesn't weigh me down at all
He ain't heavy, he's my brother.”
Not everyone possesses the same courage that Thomas displayed when providing life for his brother, but we all have something that we can provide the people in our lives; no matter our race, sex, religion, or relation; we all were born with the capacity to love. When life challenges our morality to love, it is my hope that we are all able to rise above those challenges, but in the instance that we cannot, I hope that we may all remember Thomas’s example of courage and come to rise above our own strengths to love.
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