Reaping the Rewards of Reporting

For the past month, I’ve been covering the story of a family who created a business to support their epileptic daughter. Before this story, I had never written anything this long, or anything that required reporting that deep. It’s the longest span of time I’ve ever spent on a story, and is probably the most I’ve ever gotten to know about group of sources. Today, that story went live on the Columbia Missourian’s website.

I’m aware that I’ll become used to these kinds of stories and experiences over my career, but this one hit home. It taught me something really important and rewarding about news reporting: It can teach you a whole lot. Sometimes, it can even shift your perspective a little.

After speaking with Amy — the owner of the business — several times, she invited me into her home, where I would meet her epileptic 10-year-old daughter, Helen. Given the fact that I am horrendous with young children, I was nervous to even be sitting at their dining room table.

Nevertheless, I put on my friendly reporter face and carried on. She told me everything; I was there for three hours. I heard about seizures, doctors, medications, the lot. But none of it seemed real until Helen came through the front door.

Just as her mother described her, she was bright and bubbly and infectiously happy (something I surely would not be in her condition). She’s a big fan of One Direction and Disney princesses. She loves Halloween, so much that she begged her mother to have a Halloween dance party that day I sat in their kitchen. She talked me into playing two rounds of Disney Apples to Apples before going back home.

Our fun was momentarily interrupted when she had a seizure, something I knew was going to happen but I still was not prepared for. She ran into her mom’s arms, went silent, and tensed up for almost a minute. By the look on her face you could tell she was in pain. Then it was over. She got back up without a word and went back to laughing and dancing.

I just remember driving home after that feeling different. Seeing someone in such difficult circumstances be so positive and uplifting really makes you evaluate your own attitude. I came away from it with feeling extremely thankful for the life and opportunities that I have. And it made sharing their story with the world that much better.