“What can you do when your well-laid plans fall apart and life takes an unexpected turn?”
— Brenda Warner, from “One Call Away”
Back at the public library, I slid the book off the shelf. A beautiful young woman stared at me; on the flip side the cover read, ” … she found herself living through any woman’s nightmare: a healthy baby tragically injured in a bathtub, a sudden end to a career she loved; betrayal and divorce; poverty; public humiliation; a deadly natural disaster that (killed both parents) destroyed her foundation and shook her to the core. One shattering phone call at a time.”
One commentator said, “If I were her, I would stop answering the phone.”
Brenda Warner is a mother of seven and wife of NFL “superstar” Kurt Warner (Football Hall of Fame, 2017), whose first NFL contract was for 47 million dollars. But being a superstar and having all the money in the world doesn’t necessarily bring happiness or health or anything else that matters.
Memoirs share peoples’ lives, the lives you don’t see at a glance; the judgments you make about their lives are blown apart and, in the process, you learn a little more about yourself.
Like the explosive anger I felt toward Brenda’s first husband who dropped their baby in the bathtub, causing critical injuries and not telling doctors for 24 hours what really happened. Later he abandoned Brenda, eight months pregnant, and his brain-injured child, as he rode off into the sunset on his unpaid-for-motorcycle with his 19-year-old girlfriend.
Brenda, though devastated, was forgiving. She never lost her Christian faith and determination. Having quit the Marines to care for her injured child and now single, she became a registered nurse. She met Kurt when they were as poor as a church mouse.
Then came the NFL, but being the wife of an NFL player wasn’t all roses. Bad enough to hear negative things about your husband weekly, but to hear you looked like you could be his mother? And “fake news?” Like reports Brenda’s son was a paraplegic born with Down Syndrome? Does anybody fact check?
Fast forward and the Warners have a foundation, “First Things First.” The focus is clearly children, single parents, special needs individuals and more. Details are at kurtwarner.org.
About the book, I warn you one chapter will bring you to your knees. I sobbed uncontrollably, then read it to Sam who streamed tears.
Brenda and other NFL players’ wives volunteered to hold hospital babies. One night Brenda was in her PJs when she had a strong impression “Daniel” needed to be held. It seemed crazy, but she dressed and went to the hospice center. Miraculously, they let her in when she said, “I’m here to hold Daniel.” You see, Daniel’s dad had abused him and he was brain dead. Daniel’s mother wouldn’t agree to take Daniel off life support because her boyfriend would be charged with murder, so the State stepped in.
“Daniel, my mom and dad are in heaven, and my mom would love to hold you,” she whispered. “She looks like me, she has a long nose … Sweetheart, they say there’s a bright light … that’s Jesus … if you’re trying to fight, don’t fight anymore; just go.”
And that night Brenda caressed little Daniel right into heaven. Leaving, the supervisor said, “Had you not come, Daniel would have died alone.”
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