By Nina and Craig Flournoy (’86)
The cell phone rang. It was Erin Eidenshink, an SMU senior we hired to watch our 14-year-old twins, Louise and Emma, while we taught in London. Louise had been feeling lousy for weeks. Despite three visits to the doctor, the diagnosis was the same – only a virus. Not satisfied, we demanded a blood test. By that time we had already left for London, where we teach communication classes through SMU-in-London (and Nina directs the program). We were in a faculty meeting at Regent’s College when we got the call. “Louise has leukemia.” Tuesday, July 1, at 8:05 p.m. our world crashed.
We scrambled to get the next flight home, stuffed clothes into suitcases and fretted about the London program. (Our oldest daughter, Helene, a senior CCPA major who was in London interning with Amnesty International, also left.) So, who would take charge of the 48 SMU students? Who would teach our classes? Nina had placed some students in internships at nonprofit organizations throughout London. Who would oversee the interns? All the months of planning plays, tours, guest speakers and trips &ndash who would take the ball?
SMU-in-London co-director Rita Kirk would. A scholar and author with a doctorate in communications, Kirk is a professor and former chair of corporate communication and public affairs (CCPA) at SMU. She also has a big heart and a Ph.D. in friendship. “We’ll take care of London,” she told us. “You take care of Louise.”
Becky Hewitt would. London program assistant and the Mother Superior of the CCPA division, Hewitt said, “I’ve got it, Nina. Go home and don’t look back.”
On the other side of the ocean we found Louise shivering in a hospital bed in Dallas. A biopsy revealed cancer in 96 percent of her bone marrow. Her kidneys were shutting down. She was terrified and angry, fighting to find footing in a world of spinal taps, bone marrow aspirations, catheters and chemotherapy. With the help of the sharp staff at Children’s Medical Center, as well as the immense outpouring of prayers and well wishes from family and friends, Louise found solid ground. We did, too. Assurances from Kirk and Hewitt that the London program was running smoothly allowed us to focus on our family. But we knew from experience how many plates they were juggling at once.
In London, Kirk was directing the program, overseeing the interns, teaching a CCPA class and, for the first time, a journalism class. But she needed help. Enter Tony Pederson – a journalist who spent 29 years at the Houston Chronicle, serving as managing editor and then editor. Today, he directs the SMU Journalism division and holds the Belo chair in journalism. A guy with a big heart, Pederson volunteered to teach Craig’s class – for no pay. He left for London on a few days advance notice. “I’m free that month,” he said.
We worried our family trauma would cast a cloud over SMU-in-London. We needn’t have. The group visited Cambridge and Oxford, Scotland and Stonehenge. They went to Parliament, Speaker’s Corner, the British Library and various plays. In five weeks they read and wrote as much as many students do in a year. Their final projects were superb, their presentations top notch.
It was another successful summer for the London program, despite the meteor that came hurtling out of nowhere. Many students emailed us asking what they could do. Nina replied by telling them that the best way to help was to “make this the time of your life.” By all accounts, they did.
As for Louise, her prognosis is good. She has an excellent chance of beating the leukemia. And because of the kindness of our SMU colleagues, we were there when Louise needed us most.