Racine man joyful despite his hardships
BY BRIDGET THORESON
Journal Times | Posted: Sunday, March 2, 2008 12:00 am
Servando Moreno Jr. has already been to heaven.
At least that's what he told his mother after he suffered a stroke on July 21, 1976, two days after his ninth birthday.
The family was in Texas visiting his grandmother. He woke up and said his arm did not feel right, and then the stroke hit.
"It's unbelievable," said his mother, Anna Moreno, 65. "He was so healthy."
Now 40, Moreno - everyone calls him Junior - is fighting the slow deterioration of his brainstem. He is no longer able to tell his story, but his mother remembers it well.
Told his mother he had died
During the arduous months of hospitalization after his stroke, Junior slowly regained the ability to speak. Once he did, he told his mother that he had died.
He said a person took him through a tunnel and opened a door to heaven, where Jesus and Mary were standing with a crowd.
"He says it was the most beautiful place in the world," Moreno said. "He says the colors are nothing like what we have here. And the music - he loves music - so he says we have nothing that touches the music there."
He said Jesus took him to his room from home in Racine. There was a box, similar to a TV, facing downward where Junior could see his grieving relatives. He told his mother that Jesus said he could choose to go back.
"My mom's crying, my grandma's crying, I want to go back," he reported saying.
For the family, Junior's recovery was indeed miraculous. His mother was told he would be institutionalized for the rest of his life. Instead, he was home after Thanksgiving that year.
He learned how to talk and walk again. Although his right side was never the same and he had short-term memory loss, growing up Junior did everyday things - playing sports, swimming, singing in the Park High School choir, going to prom.
"Everything slowly came back," Moreno said. "He has such determination."
Celebrating life
Now he cannot do many of the things he worked so hard to re-learn. He has an unspecified demyelinating disease of central nervous system, a condition similar to multiple sclerosis, which damages tissues surrounding nerves in the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.
"The signals don't go one way or the other sometimes, so there's a complete deterioration taking place in the brainstem. It's just dying," Moreno said. "It's taking its toll on everything."
In 1998, about a year after his father died, Junior started stumbling as he walked. His illness was diagnosed in 2000.
His body slowly started shutting down.
By April 2000, he could no longer continue his job doing light janitorial work for Color Arts, which was located at 1840 Oakdale Ave.
By November, Moreno had to take a family leave from her job at the Bank of Elmwood, 2704 Lathrop Ave., to take care of him.
Hospice workers came in the next month and stayed until Junior was moved to Ridgewood Care Center, 3205 Wood Road, on Feb. 22, 2002.
"The day my heart broke," his mother calls it.
A Cowboys fan - especially the cheerleaders
This past Wednesday at Ridgewood, family and friends gathered to surprise Junior with a gift from Odyssey HealthCare and the Dream Foundation - a boot autographed by the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
"He's always been a fan of the Cowboys, but especially the cheerleaders," Moreno said.
Junior was wheeled through a line of pompom-shaking women in cheerleader costumes, everyone cheering while Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" was played on a keyboard. Junior, wearing a Cowboys hat and an Emmitt Smith jersey, had an open-mouthed smile of amazement on his face. He looked around smiling as glitter rained down from party poppers and he was presented with Cowboys memorabilia.
"He wants the leg that goes in there, too," said his uncle, Rick Jackson, to laughter as Junior held the white boot.
For his aunt, OJ Jackson, the party was bittersweet.
"I'm happy, I'm thrilled for Junior, but it's so sad," Jackson said. "He's suffered so much."
As Moreno talked about how surprised Junior was by the party, she pulled a tissue from her purse to wipe away tears forming in the corners of his eyes.
Seeing the best
Jackson credits her sister with the quality of life Junior has enjoyed.
"My sister, this has just been her life," Jackson said. "She just goes above and beyond."
Moreno tries to visit Junior every day at Ridgewood. He eats when he can (his favorite foods are scrambled eggs and Rice Krispies), but has lost weight to the point where, at 92 pounds, his ankles are boney above his Converse sneakers. His vision is going, and as of February he was no longer able to go to his own doctors.
He likes to go to church services held in Ridgewood, Moreno said, and attends both the Catholic and the Lutheran services if he can.
"Junior's so easy to take care of and everybody likes him," Moreno said. "He's got a good attitude, he smiles at everybody, and if he can he'll give you that little thumbs-up that means he's fine."
Junior's room is that of a true Cowboys fan, with two Cowboys Cheerleaders calendars (one he got for his roommate last Christmas), a wood cutout from his niece with a Cowboys helmet and the word "Jr." and a teddy bear in a Cowboys cheerleader's uniform. There are even two pictures of Junior, looking slightly irritated, wearing a Packers hat. The result of a lost bet.
A banner titled "Things I'm Thankful 4" hangs on the wall, with Junior's responses - "Being Alive," "My Family" and "For Help."
"He's such an example of persevering, of not giving up, living life to the fullest," Moreno said. "He brings out the best in everybody and he sees the best in everybody."
His mother sees his condition is getting worse. She said she doesn't know how she'll handle it when he goes, as they've been together for so long.
"He has always walked very close to God. He has been an inspiration to people," Moreno said. "I am so thankful to God that he allowed Junior to do and live a good life in this short time."
Years ago, when he was still able to talk, Jackson said Junior told his family that he will be happy when he goes.
"He says he'll be able to dance again," she said, tears in her eyes.
Junior Moreno has already been to heaven. And looking at the smiling faces gathered around him Wednesday, it's possible to imagine that he brought a little bit back home.