Story by Jeremiah Kalb
Almost twenty-six years ago, Diagnostic Services Assistant Mary Jones gravely ill daughter asked for help making her wish come true, which was to donate 100 quilts to a pediatric unit in Nebraska.
Rexburg resident Corinna Jones, age six at the time, was visiting the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha for her first small bowel transplant. While there, she noticed other kids like her in need.
“The hospital is nice, but their blankets are scratchy and yucky,” Corinna told her grandmother who was living in Missouri at the time.
Elda Mae Billings rallied her friends together, who made 100 quilts. Young women in the Omaha area tied an additional 110 quilts to help make Corinna’s wish come true.
On November 5, 2006, six-teen-year-old Corinna Jones passed away after a lingering illness, but her wish continues to be honored for those children who need to be comforted.
“Donations and participation have dwindled, but around 30 quilts are supplied each year to local hospitals, including Madison Memorial,” Mary says. “We’d love to see more involvement.”
Corinna knew that she could not give a hug to every kid who needed one when they were having a hard day, so giving a Corinna Quilt meant she could still share her love with them in a meaningful way.
“Wrap yourself in a Corinna quilt and that will be a hug from Corinna.”
Corinna experienced many hard days herself.
“She had a volvulus that killed all but 60 centimeters of her intestine when she was almost five years old,” Mary says.
Volvulus is a condition in which the bowel twists on itself, causing obstruction to the flow of material through the bowel. It can also lead to obstruction of the blood supply to the intestine itself, which can result in tissue death within the bowel.
Emergency surgery was necessary to repair Corinna’s volvulus and remove the dead tissue. The original plan was to fly Corinna to Salt Lake City, but a snowstorm grounded her plane.
“The on-call surgeon in Salt Lake City actually told Dr. Podany in Idaho that there was nothing they could do for her.”
The local surgeon instead elected to remove her bowel and work with it, salvaging what was viable.
“Dr. Podany saved her life,” Mary says.
This mother of nine children calls the snowstorm and Dr. Podany’s healing hands two of the many miracles in Corinna’s life.
Over the next nine years, Corinna endured multiple transplants and surgeries involving her small bowel, liver, and pancreas, all at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Mary felt overwhelmed and frustrated as a parent but also blessed and amazed.
“Corinna seemed to have a special talent and ability to handle her sickness.”
She loved to cook and wanted to be a chef. “Believe it or not, she could watch the Food Channel while not being allowed to take anything by mouth.”
Benjamin, Corinna’s youngest sibling, a newborn at the time, also helped lift Corinna’s spirits on her awful days.
“The sicker she got, the more important Ben became. He’d snuggle with her in bed. Somedays, she’d say, give me Ben, and I’d put Ben next to her, and she’d go to sleep.”
With family and friends supporting her the whole way, Corinna did not let her 12-year illness hold her back.
When Corinna was 16, after her third transplant, she enjoyed nearly a year of ordinary things teenagers do. Such things as going to school for almost the entire year, attending a Halloween dance, completing her driver’s education, making friends, orthodontics, and the most expensive glamor photo shoot in town that she negotiated for herself at a mighty steep discount.
“I couldn’t afford Travis Gugleman photos, but she wouldn’t let it go,” Mary remembers. “I pulled in one day and suggested that she go talk to him.”
A short while later, Corinna returned to the car beaming from ear to ear bursting with news. She told her mother that Travis would take her pictures for $60, and she needed to bring three outfits. “I was dumbfounded,” Mary says.
This was the way Corinna did things. She died two weeks after the photo shoot. At the time, Mary could not fathom how significant the gift Corinna would leave behind.
Perhaps Corinna’s last few days on earth best illustrate her determination to make every minute count. “She had her grandma over to read Shakespeare to her so she would not get behind in English class,” Mary says.
Soberly, Corinna’s life should remind us all that tomorrow has many uncertainties and that our earthly lives are just a vapor.
“So share your love,” Mary says.
Today, Mary’s family and a few volunteers make Corinna Quilts.
“We do this to help lift others in hard times.”
More quilts are needed to help put smiles on children’s faces. As a Corinna Quilt volunteer, you have the extraordinary opportunity to brighten a child’s day and make their hospital stay less scary. To donate, please contact Mary Jones in the Lab at 208-359-6444.
“Even if your donation is only one quilt, it can still make a difference.”
Corinna, age 14.
Corinna makes a cake and brother Talon.
Corinna and siblings Joseph and Victoria.