Boy with respiratory problems attends his 1st band festival

By JENNIFER ROGERS

Contributing Writer

A relaxing Sunday afternoon at the Great American Brass Band Festival may not seem like a big trip to most people. For Michael Morrissey, 12, and his mother, Linda, however, making the trip to Danville was a special event.

Michael, who was born with a malformation of the brain called holoprosencephaly, attended the festival for the first time last weekend. His trip was the first this year away from his home at the Rockcastle Respiratory Care Center in Mount Vernon

Linda Morrissey said people living at the Care Center are allowed personal trips from April through December every year. Attending the Brass Band Festival was an ideal trip for Michael because he enjoys music.

"I buy him a lot of music, because he can hear," Morrissey said. "He can't see as well as he can hear."

There are other aspects of the festival that attracted their attention as well.

"We don't want to go where there are just a bunch of vendors," Morrissey said. "That's not what he would like."

Morrissey said she always calls places she plans to take Michael to make sure they can accommodate his wheelchair and ventilator.

"They've been wonderful here, " Morrissey said. "They let us through the barricades, and a guy drove us around on a cart to find a place. But I have noticed some places you go, it's not very wheelchair accessible."

The upbeat music is another drawing card, said Morrissey. She added that there is a lot of classical music in Michael's collection.

"We don't listen to a lot of country," Morrissey said. "It's too depressing, I think."

Making a trip with Michael involves a lot of planning. Morrissey said the Care Center, which has 60 beds in its long-term care facility, has a van that can hold up to three wheelchairs, but other vehicles are needed.

"If somebody out there had a big heart, they would give us a van," Morrissey said.

Morrissey said that although there are not many things to do during a day at the Care Center, Michael seems content.

"He's happy," Morrissey, who visits the center nearly every day, said. "He really is. I just wish I could have him home."

Michael, who wasn't expected to live past his first year of life, spends his days sleeping in, going to school, and doing other activities in the afternoons.

He has visited Shakertown, Renfro Valley, and enjoys fireworks every Fourth of July.

Morrissey said she wishes Michael could come home more often, especially on Christmas and his birthday, both times when the center doesn't allow trips.

"Holidays are hard," Morrissey said. "But you just try to make it the best you can."

Morrissey also said she wishes more people were aware that "not everybody was born perfect." Getting Michael out more could help people appreciate the things they do have, she says.

"To me, he's beautiful," Morrissey said. "Sometimes people stare, but I tell him that's because he's beautiful."