Making the most of the time you've got

had heart problems that caused him frequent hospitalization and inevitably lead to his death

JENNA MANCINI

I was asked Friday morning to "write a commentary for the Loquitur. As the day progressed, various ideas rolled around in my head until I finally settled on a topic I thought would be suitable. But suddenly, any wisdom or advice I could dispense on Cabrinian life seemed inconsequential. Friday afternoon, I learned that a high school friend of mine had passed away. Thursday night Sean's heart stopped while he was sleeping in his dorm room. Sean

Sean and I had become friends during our senior year of high school. We were in a play together and quickly took a liking to one another. It wasn't hard to be Sean's friend. He was loved by everyone. Because of Sean's illness, he only grew to a height of about five feet. He received his share of. teasing because of his stature, but he always took it good-heartedly. At basketball games, it was not a cheerleader who was thrown up in the air at halftime, but rather Sean who was lifted by his classmates and affectionately referred to as the school mascot.

As Sean and I began talking, we learned that we both were treated at Children's Hospital around the same time a few years earlier for heart conditions. It was then that I remembered a nurse trying to set me up with "a nice boy named Sean," who ironically became my friend two years later. Sean taught me so much in the brief period we were friends. By looking at Sean and the beautiful life he lead, one would never know he had a chronic condition. Sean loved life. He faced his challenges with strength and couragechallenges that would have crushed someone of a lesser conviction. I remember telling Sean once that the only problem with his heart was that it was simply too big.

When I heard about Sean's death I was shocked. At first I couldn't feel anything but numbness, but the tears came soon. My sister called me the following day and told me a group of friends were going to gather at my high school to pray for Sean and his family. Originally I didn't want to