In a moment of profound vulnerability amid her husband’s battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, Alyssa Healy found unexpected comfort from a local high school student who paused his lunch to offer kindness at the UF Health Leesburg Hospital.
Alyssa’s husband, Tom, 42, an analyst at State Street Fund, was admitted to the hospital recently after his ongoing fight with the aggressive disease. Tom has been ill for the past six months, exhausting his vacation, family leave and sick time while the illness went undiagnosed until the pancreatic cancer was confirmed at stage 4.
With two young children at home, Maddison, 4, and Joshua, 18 months, Alyssa stepped away from her husband’s bedside to grab lunch and make necessary phone calls. Overwhelmed, she began crying in the hospital cafeteria.
That’s when Dominic, a student at Leesburg High School’s Medical Academy, noticed her distress. Dominic approached Alyssa with tissues in hand and asked if she wanted to talk. This young man sat with her, listening attentively to her account of the family’s difficult journey and offered comfort.
“I just wanted her to know that God is with her through it all,” Dominic later said of his gesture…