While making my usual rounds, a man approached me and asked me to visit his son. Anthony, age 21, was in coma. He was beaten to within an inch of his life 5 months earlier and just moved to the nursing home where I clown.

The father, Armando, took pictures as I clowned with Anthony; putting a sticker on his gown, dusting him with a feather duster (I asked the father permission before I touched Anthony), speaking to him all the while. Armando took my email address so he could forward the pictures.

Armando was present a couple of times when I visited Anthony.He always took pictures. He loved watching me dote on his son. He was not present at most of my visits, but Anthony's sticker told him I had been there.

The last time I visited Anthony was on December 19th. Both parents were present. Though Anthony was stll in a coma, his eyes were open. He briefly smiled at me as I gave him an "Honarary Clown" sticker and told him he was now a clown and we would practise telling jokes. Armando took pictures.

A few days later, I received an email from Armando that Anthony had passed away from head injuries he received in the beating. The email told when and where the wake would be and asked, if couldn't attend that I please say a prayer for Anthony. This was an individually addressed email for Clown Dode.
Armando was reaching out to me. Clown Dode represented warmth and caring to him.

When I walked into the wake (as a civillian), Armando exclaimed "Oh, the clown...", and put his arms around me. He stayed in the embrace as I rubbed his back. Then his wife did the same. We chatted briefly. Armando had a picture taken of him and me arm in arm. I didn't stay long.

This experience points out what an awesome impact caring clowns can have. We put ourselves in a position for people to reach out to us. The short time I spent at the wake with Anthony's parents was more special than anything money could have bought.

Caring clowns should feel very good about what they've chosen to do.

[This message was edited by Clown Dode on January 31, 2003 at 03:16 PM.]

Dode.jpg (55 Kb, 55 downloads)