Tag Archives: Christmas

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Tampa Bay Times: A day at the movies, inspired by real-life and a good friend

By Justine Griffin

*The Christmas Day 1A centerpiece story*

Collin Barnes, Reid Carlisle, Aidan Griffin, Cedric Buckley, Matthew Morgan, and Tyler Burkhart came to see the movie "Wonder" with Connor Carlisle. [Photo courtesy of Kerry Carlisle]

Connor Carlisle wanted to design an invitation, something special, and he asked Sarah Reed for help.

Reed is one of Connor’s teachers at St. Petersburg High School, and her hospitality and tourism class is his favorite. He dreams of designing roller coasters.

So they worked on a flier, and he passed them out to everyone he knew at school. He wanted them to go to a movie with him, to see Wonder.

The blockbuster film, released widely Thanksgiving weekend and starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson, is based on Connor’s favorite book. The young adult novel by Raquel Jaramillo — written under the pen name of R.J. Palacio — chronicles the story of a fifth-grade boy living with a condition similar to Treacher Collins syndrome, which required many surgeries. Because of his disfigurement, the main character, August, is bullied in school. The story shares what it’s like to be different, and how he’s often stared at for something he cannot control.

Connor, who is 16, says he has read the book many times. Like August, he has had many surgeries. Thirty-six, in fact.

Connor was born with a cloverleaf skull, which made his eyes bulge and his ears reach near the back of his head. His skull was more cone-shaped than round. Ultimately, it didn’t leave much room for his brain to grow.

“I had a very normal pregnancy. We had no idea until he was born,” said Connor’s mother, Kerry Carlisle, who is a nurse in the Pinellas County school system. “Back in 2001, the outlook was not very good.”

Connor also was diagnosed with the genetic disorder Crouzon syndrome and Arnold-Chiari malformation, which means he was born without a fully developed spinal cord, nor its protective covering. He lives with a tracheostomy tube in his throat, which makes his voice raspy and low. He sleeps on a ventilator, and his parents take turns being “on call” in case he needs help in the middle of the night. His long-term prognosis isn’t so clear.

His family lived in New York City for nearly 12 weeks straight when he was a few years old, as he underwent several craniofacial surgeries to reshape the bones in his skull. Family photos show a happy, young Connor on the carousel in Central Park, even as equipment halos his face.

“We always made the most out of it, vacation-wise,” said Connor’s father, Reid Carlisle.

Connor’s favorite memory was visiting the Toys “R” Us in Times Square. And he enjoyed playing with his big brother, Reid Jr., who has been Connor’s best friend and advocate all his life, while they watched subway cars zip in and out of Grand Central Station.

“I remember really liking the trains,” Connor said.

Connor’s health continues to be struggle. He fights pneumonia, tracheitis or respiratory infections nearly every year, which almost always land him in the intensive care unit. He was hospitalized twice in August. He hates that he can’t swim underwater because of the tube in his throat.

But he tries to do all he can.

Connor is a huge Star Wars fan. He went to Megacon for the first time this year. He’s been in Boy Scouts most of his life, and loves to camp with his dad and brother. His parents bring the ventilator, with extension cords, on camping trips. Last summer, he attended Camp Able in Marco Island all by himself. No aides. No parents. Just him.

He loves riding the Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens, but the Incredible Hulk coaster at Universal’s Islands of Adventure has been his favorite since he was cleared by his doctors to ride coasters in 2015.

“Connor is definitely not the type who likes to sit around,” said Tyler Burkhart, an 18-year-old Northeast High student who has known Connor pretty much all his life. “He’s always looking for something new to do.”

Read more here. 

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Tampa Bay Times: Between surgeries at Tampa General, a place to recharge

By Justine Griffin

The Starbucks inside Tampa General Hospital is open every day. [Photo by ALESSANDRA DA PRA | Times]

DAVIS ISLAND — The wheeze of an espresso machine dulls the Christmas music playing on the overhead speakers, but the customers waiting in line aren’t listening anyway.

A nurse in a surgical cap with green and red snowflakes is on her phone, shouldering through the line with two coffee cups in her hands. “I talked to Dad, he’s bringing the turkey,” she says.

Another nurse, dressed in plain, blue scrubs, is balancing a tray of four steaming coffees and talking to a co-worker in Mandarin. Three young doctors join the end of the line, still wearing blue booties over their Nikes and face masks tugged down around their necks. “He’s bleeding from the ear, and they don’t know if they should send him to the E.R. or to the clinic,” one explains to the others.

The mid-morning rush at the Starbucks inside Tampa General Hospital is dying down just after 10:30 a.m. on the Thursday before Christmas. The scheduled morning surgeries are well under way by now.

Starbucks isn’t the only place that serves coffee on the sprawling campus, but it is a popular attraction, tucked into the maze of the first floor of the main hospital.

The coffee shop looks and smells like any other in the chain. The signature green emblem hangs in the window.

But hospital staff and visitors stream in and out from 6 a.m. to midnight. Surgical technicians eat from lunch boxes at the wooden tabletops. Families gather on the plush, leather chairs in the corner and look over patient paperwork. On Facebook, customers express thanks for “good coffee” while they wait for news or fuel long shifts.

It’s business as usual even just before Christmas.

The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) is interrupted briefly by a call over the speakers: “Code purple, NICU.” A few people in line check their phones, then put them away.

The scrubs come in a rainbow of colors: Turquoise. Maroon. Navy blue. Dark green. Light green. Some surgical caps have Gators or Seminoles on them. Some have candy canes.

Some visitors wear blinking Christmas lights and festive sweaters. Others look tired. They wear sweatpants, flip flops and their hair in messy buns.

A thin, balding man wearing scrubs that are so loose he’s bunched and rolled the waistband several times around his hips, gives another doctor in a white coat a warm hug as they wait in line. They discuss a patient who had a heart attack. “Tiny, tiny arteries and tiny, tiny crystals,” he describes with a thick accent. “Nothing major. She will be okay.”

They both smile.

The hospital can’t shut down for the holidays. The baristas won’t, either.

They’re open every day. Even on Christmas.

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Christmas shopping in Sarasota: Holiday retail coverage

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Leland, 15, and her mother Beth McCullagh are Black Friday shopping enthusiasts and are excited to get out to the stores Thursday evening into Friday morning. (November 26, 2013) (Herald-Tribune staff photo by Rachel S. O’Hara)

Editor’s Note: Herald-Tribune reporter Justine Griffin shopped with two Sarasota families this holiday season. She went shopping in Sarasota with Melissa Tomasso, who waited until after Thanksgiving and in Brandon with Beth McCullagh, who hunted for Black Friday deals on Thanksgiving night.

Below are stories I wrote during the holiday season:

Lists handy, shoppers gird for holiday hunt By Justine Griffin. Published: Nov. 26, 2013

Between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and three weeks of shopping from now to Christmas, shoppers have more options than ever to get all the gifts on their holiday lists.

Southwest Florida moms Melissa Tomasso and Beth McCullagh are two of the 140 million people who are expected to shop during the Thanksgiving weekend — the biggest for shopping of the year. That turnout is down about 5 percent from last year, according to data collected by the National Retail Federation.

With doorbuster deals beginning earlier than ever — in some chain stores as early as 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day — consumers are poised to see some of the best Black Friday discounts in years, experts say.

The Herald-Tribune will follow Tomasso and McCullagh as they hunt down deals, navigate shopping crowds and stores, and ultimately check off items on their holiday gift lists this holiday season.

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Consumes have plans. Merchants have hopes. By Justine Griffin. Published: Nov, 30, 2013

Beth McCullagh and her daughter ran to the entrance of Macy’s — not to be the first in line for doorbuster deals, but to get out of the 50-degree weather.

McCullagh and her daughter are career Black Friday shoppers. Together, they’ve managed the lines, the crowds and the long early-morning hours spent in malls and other shopping plazas. But they have always come home victorious, bearing bags and boxes full of gifts acquired at prices that make friends and family envious.

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After Black Friday, shopping deals still abound By Justine Griffin. Published: Dec. 9, 2013

The tree’s up in the living room and the colorful lights dangle from the roof of the Tomasso family home.

It is early December and Melissa Tomasso, a wife, sister-in-law, daughter, mother of two and a substitute teacher in Sarasota, is eager to wrap up her holiday shopping for friends and family. She is one of the 46.2 percent of Americans who waited to shop until after Thanksgiving, according to data from the National Retail Federation.

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Retailer’s season hasn’t been merry By Justine Griffin. Published: Dec. 23, 2013

While retail stores were busy with the many bargain hunters looking for a last minute deal before the holiday this past weekend, Sarasota shoppers Beth McCullagh and Melissa Tomasso were relaxing at home, their shopping already done for the season.

McCullagh, a dedicated Black Friday shopper who lives with her family in Lakewood Ranch, spent a few days in stores after Black Friday, but wrapped up most of her shopping online. Tomasso, who waited until December to begin shopping for her family who live in Sarasota, shopped online and in stores, but grabbed everything on her list before jetting to New York for a short getaway before Wednesday.

As of Dec. 9, the average American holiday shopper had completed only half of their gift shopping for friends and family, which is slightly less than how much shoppers had completed by that time last year, according to the National Retail Federation. That fact boded well for store chains as they geared up for Super Saturday and the last weekend before Christmas, where retailers offer a final round of marked-down prices in a last-minute effort to purge inventories before the end of the holiday season.

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Shoppers spent less than expected in 2013 By Justine Griffin. Published: Jan. 14, 2014

Melissa Tomasso checked off every item on her children’s holiday wish lists this year, but kept well within her strict budget.

Her daughter Malia, 11, got a Kindle e-reader and MacBook Pro, expensive electronics but tools she uses for school, too. Her son, Jared, 14, also got a Kindle and some new fishing gear.

Every year when the holidays roll around, Melissa and her husband, Chris, who live in Sarasota, come up with a limited spending plan.

“My kids may have gotten all the gifts they wanted this year, but we always stick to our budget,” Tomasso said. “We splurged a little on the kids for electronics, but we were prepared for that.”

That seemed to match a broader sentiment among shoppers clearly evident in spending patterns during the recent holiday season. More consumers spent less than they expected, but only 14 percent said they spent more than expected, reported Bankrate.com, a Palm Beach-based consumer financial firm. Being on a budget was fairly universal: no age group spent more than expected, Bankrate.com data showed.