Authors: Meghan Redenbach
Meghan’s Journey: The Story of Meghan Redenbach: The Teenage Girl Who Showed a Community How to “Man Up” in the Face of Cancer (28 page)
Meghan and Friends at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in December 2010
Facebook Post
G
raduation at Roy-Hart is truly a community affair. As over a hundred students graduate each year from this rural district, hundreds more descend upon Middleport to attend the outdoor evening ceremony in front of the old, red, brick high school. Twenty junior girls wearing white dresses and gloves carry two twenty-foot daisy chains that are made the day before. They lead a processional of purple and white robed seniors to the front stage lined with five rows of chairs. To the right is the platform featuring administrators and board members, to the left is the school orchestra playing various pieces of ceremonial music.
June 22, 2013 would have been Meghan’s graduation day, too. The senior class wanted to honor their inspirational friend with a chair holding what would have been Meg’s cap and gown. This request was made by Meghan’s peers. These students had rallied behind her beginning in eighth grade and continued to celebrate her life in a myriad of ways during the two years following her death. Because of past practice, their request was not approved. These graduates, who had dealt with several more tragedies in those years, were not going to be deterred.
As Mike and Nancy watched from the back seats of the hometown crowd, what they saw was a quiet yet powerful tribute to their daughter. As the graduates made the procession to the stage, it was impossible not to see the teal tassels hanging from each of their caps. A teal chair had been stashed in the bushes behind the risers, and a very planned and coordinated effort consisted of quickly rearranging seats and placing the empty chair in a location that would have been Meghan’s. There were other touches: teal dresses, shoes, shirts, ties, and ribbons, on stage and in the audience. A bouquet of lilies (Meg’s favorite) tied with teal ribbon was placed on her seat. The ceremony continued as scheduled, and the flowers given to Nancy after the recession.
Many have said that what these seniors did was far more meaningful and significant than if permission had been granted for Meg’s chair earlier in the school year. The loyalty displayed by her friends and classmates would not have been so evident, and the bonding that occurred in order for the events to take place created a lasting memory that will always be part of Roy-Hart’s Class of 2013.
The senior class president ended his speech by challenging his classmates to go out into the world and leave a legacy for others to live up to. Meghan fulfilled her mission ahead of schedule.
Part Twelve: Meghan’s Last Words
N
ot long after Meghan lost her ability to communicate, Brandee, the social worker from Roswell, came to see me while a group of us kept vigil outside Meg’s room. Brandee had recorded some things Meghan told her to write down and give to me, knowing I would continue to work on her book.
One of the things Meghan said was, “We have to realize how precious time is, and there is not time to be mad at each other; we have better things to do with our time.”
Her message is clear.
It was over a month before I was able to approach Mike and Nancy to discuss Megan’s “secret project” and my promise to her to complete it. It was another year before I could bring myself to begin again. It took Mike and Nancy more than two years after their daughter’s death to show me what Meghan had hidden in her bedroom for them to find after her inevitable passing: a simple teal diary in a matching teal box with only two pages written in Meghan’s handwriting.
Meghan with her Royalton-Hartland Volleyball Team
Dig Teal Night – 2010
The team with Meghan’s number 3 jersey Final match of the season - 2012
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”
Psalm 116:15
It took quite a while for me to resume the project I began with Meghan, and initially I was at a loss as to how I would proceed with the writing she left. I needed to build a book around the message she wanted to share. There were many starts and stops, and I asked Nancy to see the journal I knew she kept to confirm some events and to get ideas from others. From the moment I began to read through it, there was no question that this would help to complete Meghan’s dream of telling her story.
When Nancy began keeping her journal, at no point did she imagine that it would be made available for others to read. It was not an easy decision, and preparing it for publication was a delicate task. It was necessary to make some modifications for readability purposes, but efforts were made not to alter Nancy’s
voice
. Caryn Shanahan was especially helpful in these early stages. She continued to help me proofread and edit every step of the way.
Typing Nancy’s journal for the first time proved to be an unexpected challenge. As I relived those events through the eyes of Meghan’s parents, emotions made it overwhelming for me to work on other aspects of the project. We cannot thank Patti Hill enough for rescuing this effort and completing the word processing for us.
Nancy and I met almost weekly, and as I entered the front door—Mike would usually exit through the back. It was initially too difficult for him to be around us as we talked about Meghan, something that proved to be very cathartic for Nancy. We eventually convinced him that he had something to say, too. We are forever grateful to him for doing so.
Nick Redenbach left the writing to his parents, but we spent hours together at his kitchen table talking. Because of the love he conveyed and the stories he shared about his sister, I was able to gain a greater awareness of Meghan’s life during the years before I knew her. A complete portrait of her would not have been possible without him.
Although this book ultimately “took a village” to complete, it also became a labor of love for my family. As Meghan’s volleyball coach, my husband Bill wanted to see
Meghan’s Journey
in print as much as Meg’s parents did. Our blended family of three daughters was no less supportive. Emma Holahan was my biggest motivator and pushed me to keep going when I was in a slump; she also created the website meghansjourney.com. Erin Snyder, her husband Jesse, and Molly McEvoy added insight, reflection, and inspiration when I needed it.
Thank you to Bridget Shanahan for chronicling a piece of the literary puzzle for the summer of 2010. We are also grateful to Bethany Maclam, Keith McShea, and Tyler Dunne; reprinting their previous writing was also significant in illustrating Meghan’s legacy.
Eternal gratitude goes out to our team of proofreaders: Caryn Shanahan, Deirdre Ardillo, Cheryl Hughes, and Colleen Albee.
Additional contributions were made by Christopher Schaus, Bethany Maclam, Amanda Dear, Donna Czaja, Julie Obermiller, Keith McShea, Doug Meyer, Chris Smith, Megan Dewey, Amy Lorenz, Jonas Ardillo, Nina Lilac, and Susan Moody. Thank you so much.
We are also grateful to Adriane Pontecorvo, our project coordinator, at Archway Publishing. Her kindness, attentiveness, and patience was always needed and appreciated.
This book would not have been possible without the help and support from so many people. Thank you to everyone who took time to send submissions, share their thoughts and memories, or just offered words of encouragement. There is no way to adequately express our gratitude for the time, help, and generosity imparted by countless individuals.
Debbie and Nancy