A very young bright English teenager who said no to everybody because she knew what she wanted to do and there would be people who would prevent her from accomplishing her goal. She knew what she needed to do to proceed with her college education. She was a star at the young age of eleven. She composed songs for the ballet and choirs, however, writing chamber music was her favorite.

Hero is her name but everybody playfully calls her "HoJo." She readily accepts the name. Not many in Englanders know about Howard Johnson, the first "HoJo", of the World Champion New York Mets. Hero was accepted into the RAM--Royal Academy of Music in 1994. It has been reported that she was also a troublemaker and that she was thrown out of school for copying some else's work. Hero says that the school has yet proven this allegation. This young woman did all of this without speaking a single word.

Hero has had a hole in her heart from birth but has a mind of steel and a determination to grow. This young woman cannot talk or walk but puts forth an effort to make the world a better place. She suffers from "locked-in syndrome." This has caused massive brain damage. Her body does not respond to most of her commands therefore assistance is needed 24/7 in anything that she does. She will need this kind of care for the rest of her life. Hero and her mother created a system, which provided the means to understand each other. As Hero got older her ability to make certain sounds were added alone with more gestures with the limited hand movements. Her mother is still amazed at how quickly Hero increases her vocabulary each year.

My mother can relate to this phenomena because in my youth my mouth could not pronounce MO sounds, so they came out "NANE" (NAANEE) which in Japanese means "what ?" So learning Japanese should be very easy for me, right? Hero Joy Nightingale is now sixteen years old--yes that is her real name. She has the personality that matches her name. This little genius won the Cable and Wireless Children's Network International Award in 1997 for writing her first book. She also has produced an Internet magazine called, From the Window, by dictating the words to her mother. She has created a very interesting view of the world. One of her goals is to write one book each year.

Hero got support from her father, who happens to be the vice chancellor of Kent University, (a college in England). Her dad would acquire the materials Hero needed and wanted to expand her education. Her mother, another university scholar from England, would not let her daughter rest. She taught her at home. Education was the highway to freedom for Hero and her family provided the means for her to travel the yellow brick road of a college education. Ms. Nightingale was granted a spot at the prestigious Oxford University in London. She is the youngest disabled student to attend a university in England.

This sounds so familiar to my family and many other parents of disabled children, driving their children just to be better when the world thought they could not. Hero's family made sure she would honor their wishes and Hero's goals.

Hero's art tutor has stated many times that this young woman has the talent for art. She is gifted unlike his other students. He also stated that once she has an idea, she does not quit until the masterpiece is finished. She has worked with metal, plaster, and light steel. Mother and daughter would communicate what she wanted and how she wanted the pieces placed. Then the process starts from top to bottom. Hours, days, and sometimes even weeks would lapse before the finished product would appear.

People still view her as a severely disabled person, but Hero says that she is just another artist wanting her story to be told to the world. Kofi Annan, Secretary to the United Nations, has written of her in one of her many books, which proves she has star power and knows how to use it.

This is such a wonderful story. Certainly it is one that American media has just passed by because it was not exciting nor was it beautiful, nor was it filled with sex, drugs, or violence. This Hero, this Joy, This Nightingale who lives in a two hundred year old Canterbury House in England, has made this writer's day a little brighter.

I highly recommended that if you have an opportunity to visit England, take the time to visit this young woman and you are guaranteed that your life will never be the same. Maybe President Bush and Prime Minister Blair should visit this young lady.

Given this opportunity to see how this mother and daughter communicate determination to live life to it's fullest, it influences that life as precious, and I think about what is happening to the lives of the innocent in Iraq and am troubled. This young disabled girls tries to make this world a better place by being in it.

THAT IS THE GRAYLINE!

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