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T he Butterf ly Effect

Actress and producer Roma Downey’s work with needy children reminds her that beauty can come from struggle.

For me, butterf lies represent a life full of miracles. These beautiful and delicate creatures have appeared to me at the most unexpected times, often when I need a sign of joy. I don’t mean the butterf lies that f lock to the f lowers in my garden on a warm, sunny day. I’m talking about a butterf ly that f lutters by in the dead of winter. Or one that appears on the wrist of a waitress as a tattoo. Or as a piece of jewelry in someone’s hair.

A butterf ly ’s life and beauty are born out of struggle. Simply emerging from the cocoon can take a butterf ly up to 15 days, and during that time, it writhes and wriggles, desperate to break out of its shell. From the outside, the process looks like a real fight—but this movement pushes f luid through the wings so that when the butterf ly hatches, it has the strength to f ly.

I think about this struggle— and the beauty that emerges—when I volunteer with Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization whose doctors and nurses travel all over the world to operate on children who have cleft lips, cleft palates or other facial deformities.

On one trip to Vietnam, we set up shop in a small town to do corrective surgery on 100 children. They had arrived with their mothers by bus and on foot, some of them traveling many hours. My job was to carry each child from the waiting area to the operating room. I don’t speak Vietnamese and the mothers, for the most part, didn’t speak much English, but each of them handed over her child with such trust.

In just 45 minutes, doctors stitched and reshaped these little faces, and as the gaps and holes were repaired, a child’s life was brought back together too.

As each mother came into the room, a look of awe crossed her face when she took in the appearance of a baby who just an hour before had no future or potential for happiness. She looked down and saw a beautiful, restored face. A butterf ly. It was a rebirth, a miracle.

ROMA DOWNEY’s forthcoming book Box of Butterflies will be published by Simon & Schuster.

3

TH EY’R E PU T TING KIDS TH ROUGH COLLEGE

Until recently, college may have been out of reach for many of the low-income students in Tessa Ashton’s kindergarten class at Rio Vista Elementary school in Anaheim, CA. But in February, Mwarty Burbank and his wife, Seon Chun-Burbank, who volunteer at the school, pledged to put all 26 students through college after they heard a sermon at their church about generosity. “I don’t want money to be a barrier for them,” says Marty. The donation, worth about $1 million, will cover two years at a community college and two years at a California state school (or the equivalent amount, if they prefer to attend college elsewhere).

Like Marty, an attorney, and Seon, a college professor, most of these students will be the first in their families to attend college. “We got a lot of help to get where we are,” says Seon. “Now we’re helping others. I hope the kids will pay it forward, too.”

Marty Burbank and Seon ChunBurbank with the lucky class.

4

HE PULLED A TR APPED DRIVER TO SAFETY

As night fell on July 30, an afternoon rainstorm in Ellicott City, MD, turned into a torrential downpour. When Jason Barnes, 36, the owner of All Time Toys on Main Street, looked out the front door of his store, he saw a small car float into view. “The headlights

Jason Barnes (nearest car) and friends were on,” he says. “I could tell someone was inside.”

He trudged out into the deluge, determined to help the stranded driver. Two fellow shop owners joined him, and the three men grasped forearms to form a human chain from the sidewalk to the car. Jason convinced the driver to climb out of the car window. “I told her she was about 50 feet from being washed down the river,” says Jason. He lifted the woman over the worst of the raging water until she was able to grab the hand of one of the men.

Jason insists he helped the way anyone would. “I was just the first link in a very strong chain,” he says.

5

THEY STOOD UP FOR A STR ANGER

On May 26, friends (from left) Monica Kenyon, Marla, Monica, Marla Saltzer and and Sonia Sonia Ulrich were enjoying drinks at The Fig Restaurant at the Fairmont in Santa Monica, CA. When a woman at the next table got up to go to the bathroom, Monica noticed the woman’s date pour something “She said he was a friend.” from a small vial into the The restaurant manager woman’s wineglass. She confirmed the women’s told her friends what she’d claims with surveillance seen, and the three sprang footage and called the into action. Monica and police, who arrested the Marla reported the incident man at the restaurant. The to a waiter and Sonia next day, Sonia explained rushed to the bathroom what happened in a to find the woman. “I Facebook post that went didn’t want her to go viral. “If Monica hadn’t back and drink the wine,” [told us] what she saw, who Sonia says. The woman knows what might have was shocked, says Sonia. happened,” says Sonia.

6

SH E GAV E H E R KIDNEY TO A LIT TLE GIR L

Last spring, Jodi Schmidt, a third-grade teacher at Oakfield Elementary School in Oakfield, WI, went through a major surgery for a student she barely knew. Natasha Fuller (center) with First-grader Natasha Fuller had a chronic Jodi Schmidt (in purple shirt). kidney condition and her treatments caused her to miss dozens of days of school. When the school counselor posted an update about the girl’s condition on Facebook, Jodi got tested to see if she had the blood type and met other conditions required for a donation. Doctors told her she was a match. The transplant took place in May, and both Jodi and Natasha have fully recovered. Now, they have a special bond. “She smiles and plays like a child should,” Jodi says.

7

HER SON’S HEART SAVED A CHILD’S LIFE

After Heather Clark’s 7-month-old son, Lukas, died of brain damage in 2013, she donated his organs. Two days later, Lukas’s heart saved the life of Jordan Drake, an 18-month-old girl in Chandler, AZ, who was born with a heart defect. Heather reached out to Jordan’s mother, Esther Gonzalez, and in January, the families met at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. As Heather pressed the end of a stethoscope against Jordan’s chest and heard the rhythmic thump of Lukas’s heart, Esther whispered, “That’s your baby.”

After the emotional meeting, the women have stayed in touch. “Jordan now can do all of the things I would have wanted for Lukas—high school graduation, her first best friend,” Heather says. “And I’ll be there for all of it.”

Heather (right) with Jordan and Esther

Emma Campbell

8

SHE RESCUED A TEEN FROM DROWNING

In March, college student Emma Campbell glanced out the window of her apartment in Gainesville, FL, and noticed some teenagers splashing in the building’s swimming pool. Suddenly, she saw one of the boys sink beneath the surface of the 8-foot-deep pool. “The others were standing there, stunned,” says Emma. She ran to the pool and dove to the bottom, pulling the unconscious teen, Zyvione Speed-Mitchell, to the surface. His friends dragged him onto the pool deck, then Emma performed CPR until the paramedics arrived a few minutes later. Zyvione fully recovered, but he doesn’t remember much of the incident. His mother, Carmelia Speed, does. “She’s part of our family now,” Carmelia said of Emma. “She saved my son.”

And one amazing coincidence! THEY GAVE BIRTH ON THE SAME DAY

Twins Leah Rodgers and Sarah Mariuz have experienced many serendipitous moments in their lives—like when they showed up at a party last Christmas Eve wearing strikingly similar outfits, including identical tall leather boots. That day, Leah and Sarah, 35 , revealed to extended family that they were both pregnant.

Leah lives in Denver with her husband, Kyle. Sarah and her husband, Nick, live in La Jolla, CA . On June 30, Leah gave birth to her son, Reid Joseph, at 1:18 a.m. Mountain Time. An hour later, at exactly 1:18 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, Sarah gave birth to her daughter, Samantha Lynne. “ We’re excited that our little ones will share a birthday just like we do,” says Leah.

Samantha Lynne Mariuz Reid Joseph Rodgers