January Schofield

This is January "Jani" Schofield, who is six years old. Isn't she adorable? But she has a hidden disease: schizophrenia. Her father, Michael Schofield, blogs about his daily life with her at www.januaryfirst.org. I just have to share this section from a post titled "Move One Muscle" with you. I find it beautiful.

On U2’s previous album, “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” (I get the title now. Everyday we try to dismantle the atomic bomb within Jani) there is a song called “Miracle Drug.”


Bono has said that this song is about how God works through medicine, which I believe. However, the idea for the song came from the band’s relationship with Christopher Nolan (not the actor). There had been complications when Christopher was born in 1965; he had been deprived of oxygen for two hours and was born with cerebral palsy, leaving him unable to move anything but his eyes. He could not speak.


During his life, Christopher was a writer, a poet. And in order to help him write, he needed a pointer that attached to the middle of his forehead, which he used to pick out letters on the keyboard.


But even that was not enough.


The world would never have known the beauty inside Christopher’s head without his mother, Bernadette.


Because Bernadette would stand behind him for hours on end, holding his head in her hands, which allowed him to pick out the letters on the keyboard.


I think that may be the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Bernadette Nolan could have left her son to suffer in silence. Instead, she literally held his life in his hands, standing, ignoring her own discomfort, so her son could share himself with the world.


So what is the “miracle drug?” I wish I could say it was Thorazine or Clozaril. But it isn’t. We need the drugs, yes, because they help. Eventually, a drug was invented that allowed Christopher the ability to move his neck and shoulders before he died.


But the miracle drug was not that drug. The miracle drug is a muscle. Ultimately, it is the only muscle that needs to move.


The miracle drug is the human heart.


The miracle drug is the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and friends who are willing do what it takes. The miracle drug are all of you who have taken it upon yourself to hold another’s life in your hands. The miracle drug is all of you who never give up, even when everybody is telling you you should.


The miracle drug is you.