Daevin Kirschner Angel of the Heart
"He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never went to college. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself" Dr. James Allen Francis wrote those words in a sermon called ‘One Solitary Life’. He wrote them about Jesus, but some of the words could very easily apply to the solitary life of Daevin Kirschner. A young man who graced this planet for only 16 short years, yet affected more people than some who live to be a hundred,
It’s so difficult to believe that he’s no longer with us.
Daevin was a sweet, kind, gentle, loving soul with an enormous heart. He was an old spirit, posessing so much more wisdom than you would ever expect from one so innocent. He had an extraordinarily rare quality about him; a magnetism, an aura, a charisma that attracted people to him. Anyone who met him, wanted to get to know him.
And everyone who knew him, loved him.
Daevin had so many ‘Aunties’ and ‘Uncles’...and none of them were related by blood. Unlike relatives with whom you’re forced to spend time, no matter how tedious they are, or how much you hate them....all of the people who were a part of Daevin’s life...chose to be there.
People like Dan and Holly Harding, who considered him the son they never had, and at whose apartment he’d spend hour upon hour pounding away at the keys of their computer...because they had a cable modem.
People like his Auntie Alice McNamara, who, according to Daevin in his last hours, was accompanying him on Pizza deliveries.
Special people like Missy Pichardo, who gave him his injections...the shots that, remarkably, didn’t hurt like the nurse’s did. Because they were given with the care of someone who couldn’t love him more if he were her own.
Daevin had a beautiful spirit, a quiet dignity, and an elegant grace that belied his incredible strength, his boundless courage, and his firm resolve. And it was Daevin’s own determination to get better that inspired others to fight for him:
People like Deirdre Imus, who spent countless hours on the phone at all hours of the night with Walter Levine, trying to arrange for Daevin to get down to Arkansas, so he could be seen by Professor Yasargil, the number one expert in the world in the kind of tumor Daevin was inflicted with, and who continued to search for a way to help him, even after it was determined that surgery was no longer an option. And David Jurist, who despite his many years experience with Tomorrow’s Children Fund, knowing full well that the odds were always against us, refused to give up hope. And Dr. Halpern and Dr. Suen, who, in just the brief time they spent with Daevin, grew so attached to him, that when the diagnosis none of us wanted to accept became all too apparent, they did what Doctors forced to deal with death every day never allow themselves to do.
They wept.
They cried as we all did...and as we all do...not only for the beautiful boy we all lost, but for the great man we all knew he was certain to become.
Daevin had the slyest, cleverest, most wonderful sense of humor, not to mention a great appreciation of the absurd. After his first brain surgery, twenty minutes out of the operating room, when asked if there was anything he wanted, he requested a T-Shirt that said: "I had brain surgery and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt’. He got it. And he wore it, proudly, until he eventually wore it out.
Using a laptop computer given to him by his fans on the MSNBC chat room, Daevin posted witty comments to some of the newsgroups on the Internet, using the digital signature "Brain T. Umor"...and when, after the second surgery, as his vision began to become so compromised, he wrote Hip Hop parodies of Eminem songs under the psuedonym of Rapper "DJ NPV" The NPV stood for ‘No Peripheral Vision’.
When he was out in New Mexico, at the Imus Ranch, he spent his days working and riding his horse Cody, but his nights doing his Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Clinton impressions for the other kids. And while he was down in Arkansas, he was coerced into doing his Bubba voice for Dr. Suen, who just so happens to be the Clinton’s personal physician. And apparently, Daevin’s impression was so good, that Dr. Suen turned about twelve different shades of red.
As he got weaker, he wanted to know if there was such a thing as ‘Sit Down Comedy’, and if he could use a stool. And when he was told Paula Poundstone always used a stool, he said, ‘Yeah, but is there anyone who uses one...and is still funny?’.
Daevin loved The WWF and Cheeseburgers with French Fries. He loved The Simpsons, Chicken Tenders, and Kid Rock. He loved to read. He loved George Carlin and Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream. He loved Star Wars...and Skittles. He loved his ‘Blue Blankie’, a shred of a piece of flannel that he’d keep hidden in a drawer under his socks and underwear that only his mother knew about.
He loved his brother D.J. very much. When Suzi and the boys spent their special weekend in Manhattan, Daevin made sure that D.J. got to go to the Pokemon store. Daevin didn’t go inside, because he was too tired and too weak. And as he sat in the limo David Jurist got for them, he chatted with the driver, who later told David that the only thing Daevin was concerned about was that D.J. was having a good time.
But Daevin didn’t love anyone or anything more than his Mom. In fact, in his last few hours, as he kept fighting, refusing to surrender, it wasn’t because he was frightened, it was because he didn’t want to leave Suzi alone. And it wasn’t until he was promised by Joel Hollander that she would be taken care of, and knowing and trusting that Joel would make good on that promise, that Daevin finally let go.
Each child that we come to know and love leaves us a better person. To cop a phrase from that Jack Nicholson movie, Daevin was someone who made you want to be a better human being. We didn’t set the example for him...he was OUR role model.
Daevin affected each and every one who he came in contact with. And so the reason why it’s so hard to believe that he’s gone...is because he really isn’t.
He is here with us in each and every one of our hearts, where he will always be...for in the love we all continue to feel for him, he lives on forever. Every time you think of him, and smile at what a wonderful kid he was, or laugh at something funny he said or did, he is with you.
There is a Hopi Indian Prayer that ends with these words:
"Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there, I did not die. For everything beautiful you see, will bring a memory of me."
This world was not meant for one so beautiful as Daevin Kirschner. And so until we are reunited with him in the next world, we carry our memories of him with us everywhere we go, and never allow ourselves to forget how blessed we all were to have had him in our lives.
In Hebrew there are two words that are spelled the same, but prounounced differently and have two separate meanings. Malach. It means both ‘King’ and ‘Angel’.
Daevin was a King on Earth.
And now he is our Angel in Heaven.
Thank you, Suzi, for your strength, your courage, but most of all, for sharing your beautiful Malach with all of us.
God Bless Daevin Kirschner.
