When the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., gave the homily at Hope Benson Alexander’s memorial service last Sunday, he reminded the mourners that while the baby girl had lived a very short life, it was still a full and powerful one. In her seven months, Hope, the daughter of Georgetown football Head Coach Bob Benson and his wife, eghan Alexander, accomplished a lot. She traveled on the team bus trip to attend a game against Holy Cross. She was right on the sidelines for a piece of Georgetown football history this October, when the Hoyas trounced Cornell, the first victory over an Ivy League opponent in 50 years. And she made so many friends that people stood crammed against each other in Dahlgren Chapel to say goodbye at her service.
The tiny girl is still making a big impact on others, as Hope’s life inspired a volunteer program between the players and Georgetown University Hospital. This semester, all 96 team members will spend several hours each month assisting staff and patients in the hospital’s pediatric ward.
Between player meetings near the end of last semester, Benson discussed how much he and his family appreciated the care Hope received at the Hospital. “I always used to think that coaching and teaching, those were the ultimate people, but doctors and nurses, they go so beyond what I do,” Benson said. “They should be commended big time.”
Benson, Alexander and Hope got to know doctors and nurses’ work so well because Hope needed to spend more time in the hospital than most babies. She was born with a very rare chromosomal abnormality called Trisomy 13 which is also known as Patau’s syndrome. While most people are born with 23 pairs of chromosomes, a person afflicted with Trisomy 13 has an extra chromosome.
Many babies with Trisomy 13 do not reach full term, and the disorder occurs in just about one in every 5,000 live births. Because the syndrome carries so many abnormalities, most babies do not live more than a few months – the average life expectancy is just two and a half days.
But his daughter, Benson said, came ready to fight. While about three-quarters of Trisomy 13 babies die before they reach six months, Hope toughed it out for almost seven. Everyday, however, Hope’s condition required around-the-clock attention. Benson and Alexander had a nurse helping with Hope eight hours daily, but the couple still needed plenty of time and energy to care for their daughter. Hope needed to be fed every three and a half to four hours, and every feeding could take an hour. Sleepless nights were common.
Benson said that the support of both Georgetown and the Potomac School, where Alexander coaches field hockey, helped them keep up with the tough schedule. The Georgetown nursing students, for instance, adopted Hope as their cause, offering extra assistance whenever the family needed it.
“At the end of the day, that’s what makes this community so special. The people in Georgetown were so great, I just though we could do something to give back,” Benson said. “I thought what a benefit for our players, that it would make everyone a better person.”
So Benson approached co-captains Andrew Clarke (MSB ’04) and Bill Huisking (MSB ’04) and asked for their opinion about starting to volunteer at the hospital. Clarke said the team quickly decided to take on the project.
“We all thought it was a great idea,” Clarke said. “We are really lucky to be at Georgetown so we all thought it would be great to give back to the community, and it would be good for the kids.”
Huisking agreed, and said he thinks the experience of working with patients will be an eye-opener for the whole team. “It’s going to make us understand how blessed we are to even be able to play a sport,” he said.
The team worked with Sara Marion, director of volunteer services for the Hospital, to start the process. After filling out applications, all the players underwent tuberculosis and drug tests and attended a three-hour orientation session where they learned about hospital procedure and took a confidentiality test.
Marion said the hospital staff is very excited to have such a large group of students committing to volunteering. “From the hospital’s perspective, this is fantastic. With so many people volunteering, there will basically always be a player in there anytime Monday through Friday,” Marion said.
Marion also said she feels that the children staying in the hospital will be especially excited to have college sports players hanging out. “It’s a nice added dimension they can bring as volunteers,” she said.
The players will spend most of their volunteer time reading to the patients, delivering flowers and mail, helping with homework or just visiting the children and their families. “Basically, they just do whatever they can to get the patients’ minds off being in the hospital so they can have a little easier time here,” Marion said.
Huisking, who completed his first day of volunteering last onday, said he enjoyed the hours he spent hanging out with one 10-year-old patient. “I think he was a little intimidated of me at first, but once I started talking, he loosened up. We did a puzzle, watched part of Toy Story 2, drew a little, played with cars, just had fun,” he said.
While several players said they had no real experience helping with children before, everyone already learned a little bit when Hope accompanied the team to Worcester and Ithaca. Clarke said the baby became like family for the whole team. “At first, everyone is a little bit curious, but then when we heard her cry for the first time, we all sort of laughed,” Clarke said. “I mean, a baby on a bus, it’s definitely different, but she was great.”
“Plus, at five months, any baby is pretty tough to deal with a team of football players on a bus,” Clarke added. “She has to get some credit for putting up with us.”
Huisking said Hope also inspired the team to make the volunteering project a tradition for the team. “We’re definitely encouraging the younger players to keep this up next year, as seniors are leaving and new people are entering the program,” he said.
According to Huisking, the whole team grew to admire Benson more and more as they spent time with Hope – and that they were all heartbroken when she passed away. But he said his experience volunteering last Monday helped him feel a little better. “That’s what he [Benson] wanted us to do, to make other people happy, and do whatever we can to help,” Huisking said.
During his team meetings last semester, Benson explained how he did not believe in complaining, how he tried to never let his problems affect his team. “Adversity is a part of life,” he said. “I can just try to be a good leader and show them that there are always positives.”
Some of those positives may already be showing, such as the sight of 96 Georgetown athletes paying with young patients, crashing toy cars and sharing movies.
