The Ballad of Katie: Somewhere Under Heaven Series

Mighty Katie

Casey's POV

Katie is now cancer free for about a year and a half. She had her annual checkup with the doctors and they found that there's no sign of the bone marrow failing which is making us all happy, especially Jaxon since he loves that he's got his big sister around after years of turmoil. We worked with physiotherapists and others to help Katie regain her strength while she was recovering from the transplant and I'm pleased to say that she's going to rejoin the lacrosse team this fall.  She does have a few scars from the surgeries she had before the transplant but we tell her that it's okay. "It's a badge of honor," I tell her. "It's a part of your story. You got them because you have a second chance on life." 

I once again met the troopers that helped us the night we feared that she was facing rejection when their kids were in my classes. While I mostly work as a dean, I decided to help my old friend Jack Webber who took my job as department chairperson with a shortage of professors he was having and once again, Casey Pattinson is back in the classroom. I saw the name Jason MacDonald on my class roster for my Communication Ethics class and I knew I saw that last name before but I couldn't remember from where. I would then see the name Erika Brooks on the roster for my Women in Media class and I was thinking, "I heard that last name somewhere before."

 That is until I went to Parents' Day at work to speak with parents about student life at Rider and also work with Jack on talking about the Communications program and when I went to grab coffee, that's when I saw Trooper MacDonald and his son.

I can hear one of my students saying to his dad, "That's the professor I was telling you about." He then sees me and waves, "Hey, Dr. Pattinson!" I would look over and there was Jason. 

"Hey, Jason," I say as I walk over.  

"I'd like you to meet my dad. I was just telling him that everyone loves taking your classes." 

He would then look at me and I know I saw him somewhere before. I know he made the connection as well.

"Casey? Casey Pattinson?" 

I look at him. "Mickey?"

"You two know each other," Jason asks. 

Mickey would laugh. "Oh, son if only you knew."

I then hear another student say to someone, "There's Dr. Pattinson. She's really one of the best." They then approach me and I realize it was Erika Brooks and her father.

"Hi, Erika," I say to her.

"Dr. Pattinson, this is my dad, Evan Brooks. He always keeps hearing a lot about you and I knew you had to meet him."

I look at him and smile. "Hello, Evan, good to see you again," I say to him.

"Again?"

I then tell Erika and her dad to join us and I told both of my students the story on how I know their dads.

"Kids, you know I have worked with Alex's Lemonade Stand and you know about my daughter Katie because of the documentary she produced. Well, Katie had a bone marrow transplant as you know and one night my husband and I feared she was rejecting the marrow so we were frantically trying to get her to the hospital. Mickey would pull me over after I blew two red lights and he clocked me doing 75 in a 55 zone. He saw what was going on after seeing my husband in the back seat with our daughter and he and Evan quickly sprung into action and they would be the ones that would make sure we get to the hospital safely that night."

Mickey then asks me about my daughter. "So Casey, how is your daughter?"

"They found that she had an ear infection that caused what we thought was the rejection," I tell Mickey. "She's doing way better these days and just finished the second phase in coming back from leukemia which is having a repeat of her vaccinations. She's been cancer free for a year now, the marrow graft hasn't rejected, and she's already back in school and playing lacrosse again." 

"That's great," Evan says. "I was hoping she would be okay. That girl's got some serious angels on her side." 

"She sure does."

Of course Jason can't get past the fact that his professor has a lead foot. "Damn, Dr. Pattinson! Maybe you should become a NASCAR driver."

"Nah, besides it would be kind of weird seeing a woman driving a Jeep in those races," I joke.

I get home that night and Katie has something she wants to show me. "Mom, look," she says to me. She hands me a letter which says that Somewhere Under Heaven is going to be screened at Sundance this coming Winter.

"Uncle Shane's assistant knew some people," she tells me. "By the way, Dad's really thrilled. He's already saying that he may have to retire in a few years and let me be the one who carries on the family name in showbiz."

I would walk into the living room to find Rob relaxing on the couch. "Our daughter is going to Park City it seems," I say to him.

"She also wants to get this out to a larger audience. I already got a few people working with Shane on brokering the distribution rights."

"Móraí told me that she was going to change the world and you always said she would one day be a star. Guess the prophecy of the feisty Irish grandma and the goofball English husband are both right."

We went to Park City for Sundance which was really cool. Katie won a couple of awards for the documentary but she also received a special award from the jury as a rising star in the documentary world. And of course as her parents, Rob and I couldn't be happier.

"Seems we're a dynasty now," I joke as Katie receives a standing ovation for her work.

It was that documentary that would make us just that...a cinema dynasty. I mostly retired from full-time filmmaking after the car accident but when I wasn't in the classroom, I was producing a couple of my own documentaries and serving as an editing advisor on the ones that Katie did. Our production company would be behind every single one.

We spent the summer promoting the documentary with Katie. Most of the time we let her talk with the reporters but we stayed close by. And then there was the numerous interviews she would do with Rob at her side because he was a big part of the story since he was her donor.

I still remember when they were both on Good Morning America and Katie said, "To me, my dad's the ultimate superhero. I still think he may have been typecast when he played Batman."

I sat in the green room, coffee in hand, watching my two superstars and thinking, "Móraí was right...I did marry well and I am blessed." But even blessings have their rough seasons. I would learn this as the kids got older and of course just like we did with the bone marrow transplant, we would take it on like family.