MOMS ON A MISSION BY DIANE WHITE MCNAUGHTON PHOTOS COURTESY OF MOMS ON A MISSION
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wiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross famously outlined the five stages of grief. Five heartbroken moms in central Pennsylvania have rewritten the script and added a sixth stage to that surreal emotional journey: action. Grief has been called “love with no place to go.” But these supermoms have found life-transforming places to send all their motherly devotion. Because of those transcendent maternal bonds, they have carried forth cherished memories of their beloved children, prevented pain for others, and brought abiding light and inspiration to their dark corner of the world. Julie Walker, Suzanne Sheaffer, Wendy Loranzo, and Erin Marsicano have each embarked on a personal crusade to prevent others from suffering their unspeakable losses. Sudden cardiac arrest, pediatric cancer, addiction, military loss – all of these causes have been thrust into the state and local spotlight, triggering legislative action, support services, fundraising, and a legacy that lives on. All because these grieving mothers refused to drown in despair and let their children’s stories die.
JULIE WALKER Julie Walker’s older daughter Peyton, a master storyteller who was “the epicenter of our family, truly,” passed away on Nov. 2, 2013, at the age of 19. Peyton’s energy was cut short after she 10 HARRISBURG MAGAZINE MAY 2020
suffered a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) while studying to become a Physician Assistant at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre. A Trinity High School graduate, Peyton had a genetic heart condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It wasn’t long after Peyton’s passing that her mom, a professional meeting and events planner, started urging parents to test their student athletes for heart conditions. Her effort became a full-blown media, legislative and public awareness effort. Soon, she was orchestrating jam-packed press conferences in the Capitol Rotunda, pounding the russet brick floors of the state House and Senate, hosting fundraisers attracting hundreds and raising tens of thousands, and hosting cardiac screenings with a spirited team of volunteers in high schools across the state. Thanks to her intense lobbying efforts, her state senator, Mike Regan of York and Cumberland Counties, introduced legislation known as “Peyton’s Law.” Her foundation advocates for the use of electrocardiogram (EKG) testing to screen for underlying electrical issues in the heart that can lead to SCA, and conducts free EKG screening events at schools across Pennsylvania. To date they have screened several thousand students. Senate Bill 836 would require that information be shared with student athletes regarding EKGs and that they be notified of their option to request an EKG in addition to the standard physical examination. The bill passed the Senate unanimously in January. Lobbying was not something Julie ever expected to add to her professional playbook. Julie says that five weeks after losing Peyton, she opened the bag of clothes that the ER nurses had handed to her, pulled out the shirt that Peyton was wearing on that dreaded day, and immediately felt called to action. “Emblazoned on the shirt were the words, “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
